reCAP: New York Knicks vs. Philadelphia 76ers

11/5/12

The Knicks and 76ers last met yesterday afternoon when the 76ers took a beating from the Knicks on their home court. This time the game was played in Philadelphia. Tonight the 76ers were without Jason Richardson due to an ankle sprain. They also made a change in the starting lineup starting Kwame Brown at center over Lavoy Allen. Would home court be a factor for the 76ers or would the Knicks continue their strong play? In the first few minutes of the game the 76ers were off and running starting the game on a 9-0 run. That didn’t last long when the Knicks played tough defense and forced the 76ers to make their shots. After that 9-0 run, the Knicks took control of the entire game.

Since this game was déjà vu I will not get into detail of what happened in the game tonight. The only different thing that happened was Brown leaving the game early re-aggravating a strained left calf. I will mention the standout stars of the halves and my overall assessment for the next game. The standout stars for the 76ers were Jrue Holiday, Thaddeus and Nick Young, and Dorell Wright. Holiday had 10 points and five assists in the half. Nick Young also had 10 points. Thaddeus Young had eight points and eight rebounds. Dorell Wright had 11 points and five rebounds. For the Knicks, their standout stars were Carmelo Anthony, Tyson Chandler, Raymond Felton, and J.R. Smith. Anthony had 15 points and seven rebound in the half. Chandler had 10 points and five rebounds while Felton had 10 points and six assists. Smith had seven points and five rebounds.

The standout stars in the second half for the 76ers were Evan Turner and Holiday. Turner had nine points, five rebounds, and three assists and ended the game with a total of 11 points, nine rebounds, and six assists. Holiday had seven points and three assists and finished the game with 17 points and eight assists. Nick Young scored 12 points in tonight’s game. Thaddeus Young finished the game with a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Wright also ended with 14 points, but had nine rebounds. For the Knicks, their standout stars were Rasheed Wallace, Ronnie Brewer, and Smith. Wallace had 10 points in garbage time since he started playing when the Knicks were up by a substantial amount of points. Smith had 10 points and finished the game with 17 points, seven rebounds, and five assists. Brewer had eight points and seven rebounds and ended the game with a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds. Anthony finished the game with 21 points and seven rebounds. Chandler finished with 14 points and six rebounds. Felton had 16 points and eight assists. Pablo Prigioni quietly scored 11 points and had six assists.

Overall, the 76ers have to regroup and get tougher. They looked soft against the physical players the Knicks have in Chandler, Anthony, and Brewer. The 76ers again did not shoot well shooting 34% from the field while the Knicks shot well shooting 46% from the field. The Knicks shot very well from three-point range making 13 three-pointers out of 32. The 76ers shot poorly from three-point range hitting eight three-pointers out of 22. The Knicks took care of the ball turning the ball over only seven times in the game. The 76ers had 13 turnovers.

Did missing Jason Richardson seem like a big deal in terms of his leadership on the court? Is it time to respect the Knicks? Sound off and stay tuned to my next entry when the 76ers play on the road against the New Orleans Hornets on Wednesday on ESPN.