The New York Knicks and the Philadelphia 76ers faced off for their last series game at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. This year’s championship series has the second-seeded Knicks up against the seventh-seeded Sixers.
The Knicks were up 3-2 in the first five games of the series. Their sixth game in the series took place on May 2, with a winning score of 118-115. The Knicks thwarted off the need for a tie-breaker game and solidified their spot in the semifinals.
Jalen Brunson ended the game with 41 points and 12 assists. This made him the first NBA player to score 40 points or more to close out a series since Michael Jordan for Chicago against Cleveland in 1989.
Filled with three-pointers, great assists and challenges, this was one of the most entertaining games of the series to watch.
In a nail-biting fourth quarter, both teams played their best.
After winning the jump ball, the Knicks dominated the scoreboard in the first quarter. But the Sixers quickly stepped up their game. Neither team ever had more than a nine-point lead in the second half. In such a close game, challenges are not used lightly.
The Knicks used their last challenge on a goaltending foul that was called on Isaiah Hartenstein. In a buzzer-beater moment, Philadelphia’s Tyrese Maxey went in for a layup with Hartenstein and Donte DiVincenzo double-teaming him. The on-court crew had to decide whether Hartenstein’s hand touched the ball before it hit the backboard or not.
After a few slow-motion replays, the Knicks’ challenge was unsuccessful, allowing Maxey to tie the scoreboard with one free throw.
In a stadium filled with fans screaming “defense” with a pass from Brunson, Josh Hart found himself open and, after a moment of hesitation, shot his shot. He gave the Knicks a three-point lead with 24 seconds left in the game.
“Obviously they blitzed JB, so I knew Maxey was right there, right next to me, so my first instinct was, if they rotate, make a pass to [Donte],” Hart told ESPN.
“And obviously the game plan was to not rotate to me. One second, I saw they were not rotating, and I got my feet set and took an uncontested shot.”
Brunson makes his last two points in free throw shots after getting fouled by Sixers’ Nico Batum.
With three seconds left on the clock, Buddy Hield missed the crucial three-pointer needed to go into overtime.
For a third season in a row, the Sixers lost in Game 6 on their home court.
The Knicks will be moving on to the Eastern Conference Semifinals, facing off against the Indiana Pacers.
“I think that’s probably one of the closest series I’ve been in in my young career,” Maxey said to the Delaware Online. “It was tough. That was a well-fought series. Hats off to them. Those guys made shots and they made big-time shots.”
