How OG Anunoby defending Joel Embiid led to Knicks’ Game 4 win vs. 76ers

PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia 76ers had the perfect chance to even up their first-round series against the New York Knicks. With the Knicks down to their third-string center, the Sixers were in a single-possession game for most of crunch time. This was a golden chance for Joel Embiid to dominate and lead Philly to a series-tying victory.

Precious Achiuwa didn’t see the floor in this series until the Knicks centers started getting into foul trouble. Mitchell Robinson’s ankle injury bumped him into the rotation in Game 4 and five fouls on starter Isaiah Hartenstein meant Achiuwa would have to play some huge minutes for the Knicks down the stretch of a close contest.

Achiuwa rose to the occasion, giving the Knicks some great minutes. OG Anunoby took on the Embiid assignment and fought valiantly against the MVP center. Along with Jalen Brunson, Miles McBride and Josh Hart, New York pieced together a masterclass of defense. But even them, the Sixers had their chances.

“I thought our pace kind of slowed down, [they] tired us a little bit,” Embiid said. “I thought, for the most part, we got good shots. We just didn’t make them.”

The 76ers didn’t score a field goal in the final five minutes of Game 4, mustering up just three points as the Knicks went on to take the game and a commanding series lead. The problem for the Sixers was two-fold: they had to work really hard to get a shot off and couldn’t connect on the ones they got.

Nick Nurse expanded on Embiid’s analysis of the Sixers’ problems late in Game 4.

“Well, he did a good job. OG can obviously guard him,” Nurse said. “It’s that and it’s the scheme, as well. Like, when he got it, they were getting it out of [Embiid’s] hands. And, again, I think he made really great reads. I mean, you guys can see those plays just like I can in your heads right now where we’re swinging around. We got Kelly on a back-cut for a layup. We got swing-around threes. We got pass-pass corner threes, making the right reads. We gotta step in and make ’em.”

76ers find open shots but miss them

Midway through the fourth quarter, the Sixers were rolling on offense. They scored on four straight possessions, each shot coming from up close. One was a fast-break bucket from Tyrese Maxey but the rest came in the halfcourt. The last one showed how the Sixers used the Knicks’ aggression against them. They threw the ball around the horn after Embiid got doubled, leading to a hard closeout on Maxey that he used to assist Kelly Oubre Jr. in the dunker spot.

Embiid, by that point, hadn’t rested on the bench since there were roughly eight minutes left in the second quarter. He played the whole second half and was clearly gassed because of it. Relying on an empty-tank Embiid still looked like the superior option to relying on the team without him, as they had gotten smacked around with him on the bench all series long.

The Knicks kept doubling Embiid, running the risk of other Sixers burning them. McBride decides to leave Tyrese Maxey wide open just one pass away, allowing him to get a clean catch-and-shoot look. But Maxey wasn’t able to make him pay.

The Knicks routinely doubled Embiid with the defender who was one pass away, even if it meant leaving Maxey. Embiid scoring just a single point was really bad but Maxey shooting 2-8 from the field and contributing just five points was also far from ideal. One of his misses came off of a pull-up jumper where he created ample space.

What Achiuwa lacks in size compared to Hartenstein and Robinson, he makes up for in mobility. He doesn’t let Maxey turn the corner and gets some much-needed help from Maxey’s original defender, McBride, who slides down after the double on Embiid to take the dump-off pass to Oubre away. Maxey only has a few more seconds to operate, so he opts for the mid-range look.

The Sixers don’t help themselves by spacing out this play poorly. Oubre putting into the paint when Tobias Harris is already there just clogs up the lane more for Maxey. Had Oubre stayed on the wing, Maxey could have hit him for an open look. Or, Oubre could have swung it to Kyle Lowry in the corner, whose defender was getting screened nicely by Harris.

Oubre helped the Knicks out on this play and then really helped them out by shooting this pull-up triple with 18 seconds left on the shot clock. That’s just not an open enough look to take a shot like that.

Fortunately, Lowry gets the offensive board on the miss. But the Sixers can’t get points on the board. Even on a fast break layup with under 30 seconds left, Maxey was denied by Brunson, who timed his swipe perfectly to force a miss.

The 76ers had their chance to finally do something when the Knicks made the mistake of letting Embiid get open. The Sixers run him through two screens on a sideline inbounds play and, since New York obviously wants to keep Anunoby on him, Embiid is open for long enough to get a wide-open catch-and-shoot. No one is within three-or-so feet of him when he catches the ball.

But although the look is open for Embiid, it’s not a common shot attempt. It’s not often that a catch-and-fire look is open from the midrange, so the big man attacks how he would if Anunoby was right on him. It does look silly for him to pump fake absolutely no one but it still gets Anunoby to step back out to him, giving him a more open lane to the rim. That’s when Achiuwa meets him and denies the shot.

That was the best chance the 76ers would get. Outside of those opportunities, the Knicks’ defense stepped up and owned the final minutes of the game.

Knicks play great team defense

While the Sixers did get some good looks, they also failed to execute on several possessions, leaving them (mostly Embiid) with nothing to do but hoist a shot just before the 24 seconds expired.

Anunoby was giving up five inches of height and roughly 50 pounds to Embiid but he still fought like a madman to deny Embiid of the ball. On this play, Embiid doesn’t get passed the rock until there are seven seconds left on the shot clock. Because the pass was offline, he didn’t start making his move until there were five. The Knicks again doubled him and he hoisted a heavily contest shot that wasn’t close.

The Knicks’ swarming defense forced the Sixers into trouble when they tried to initiate offense without Embiid. Maxey and Lowry try to get Brunson switched onto Maxey but the Knicks refuse to give up the switch until there are five seconds left in the possession. Brunson stays with Maxey and the possession ends with an unproductive game of hot potato.

What makes this sequence so amazing from the Knicks is the synchronization of their rotations. Anunoby knows exactly where to go after Maxey is doubled and Achiuwa expertly follows his lead by tailing off to get to Embiid, whose shot goes right into Achiuwa’s hand.

On the ensuing play where Lowry rebounded that bad shot from Oubre, the 76ers again get two defenders on Embiid. Maxey drives and kicks it to Harris but is a beat early to give it up, allowing Hart to get right out to Harris without having to change his direction. There’s enough time on the clock for Harris to pump fake and step into the arc for a middie — something he has been comfortable doing for a long time now — but he instead lets a three fly that misses.

Before Embiid misses a three-pointer in the final seconds, the Sixers get one more shot to score. Anunoby reads the Embiid-Maxey pick-and-roll well, forcing Maxey to hit the brakes and pass back out to Lowry. Brunson and Hart are just as ready to jump back out to the perimeter as they are to recover out to the perimeter, which Brunson does to force a bad miss from his Villanova standout. Another Lowry OREB and drawn foul makes up only partially for it.

The 76ers’ offense is very much to blame but so too was their rebounding. The Knicks bulldozing the Sixers in Game 1 sent a message that they have to box out harder and put more attention on the boards. But the response has only been as strong as duct tape, giving New York its chances late in the game to get offensive rebounds. Seven offensive rebounds in the fourth quarter allowed the Knicks to pull back ahead and ultimately win.

Game 5 is on Tuesday at 7:00 PM EST. The 76ers have no choice but to throw their best punches if they want to extend their season.