The New York Knicks were on their way to the second round of the 2024 NBA playoffs after going up six pointswith 28.9 seconds left in the game at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Then, the greatness of Philadelphia 76ers guard Tyrese Maxey took over.
Maxey nailed a 3-pointer while being fouled by Knicks center Mitchell Robinson, and he made the free throw to cut the lead to two points. After Knicks guard Josh Hart made only one of two free throws, Maxey made a 35-foot 3-point shot to tie the game and force overtime, and the 76ers eventually pulled off a remarkable, 112-106 win.
“It’s frustrating,” Knicks guard Jalen Brunson said of not closing out the game. “Obviously, the way it happened. But we can’t hang our heads, we have to come back stronger and be ready to go and learn from what we did.”
“I think some of us thought we were going to foul, and we weren’t, but that’s on me,” Brunson said of the team not fouling Maxey before he attempted the game-tying shot. “I have to be ready to communicate things down the court. I have to do a better job of it.”
That’s a game we should’ve won, Hart surmised. “Now all we can do is just watch film and regroup and get ready for the game whenever it is.”
“I came out aggressive as soon as we got the ball,” Maxey said of his fourth quarter performance in which he scored 17 points. “Being aggressive doesn’t mean shooting every single time, it’s about making a play every single time you have the ball.”
“Tyrese Maxey, he was unbelievable,” center Joel Embiid said about his teammate. “Hitting big shots after big shots, especially with everything that’s going on, so lots of credit to him. Tobias [Harris] was amazing, you know, throughout the whole game. He was amazing so all my teammates did their job, and we got the win.”
“We had to get up the floor quick and get a three ball up,” Philadelphia head coach Nick Nurse said of the game-tying play. “I’m glad that we didn’t mess around and keep working for something. We had a little play called that had a counter to it and one of the options is [Maxey] just pulling up. I know that was a deep one, but he raced it up there and took his chance.”
The Knicks take on the 76ers on May 2 at 9 p.m. EDT at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia and on the TNT cable channel.
