The Philadelphia 76ers looked like they were cruising at home on Friday night. Despite missing both of their star duo of Joel Embiid and James Harden, the Sixers were playing good basketball and they built a 12-point lead in the fourth quarter against the New York Knicks.
Then, a collapse happened. The Sixers topped doing what led to their offensive success as they stopped moving the ball and they couldn’t get any stops as they fell to the Knicks 106-104 at home. There were costly mistakes all over the place and it resulted in the Sixers falling to 4-6 on the season after the first 10 games of the 2022-23 season.
Coach Doc Rivers made a costly substitution late when he inserted Paul Reed into the game late in an effort to bring in more size, but Reed lost Obi Toppin and he drilled a triple to give New York the lead for good at the 1:43 mark. in the fourth. Philadelphia as a team shot just 27.3% in the fourth.
NBA Twitter gave their best reactions to the collapse by the Sixers.
Going to two non-shooting bigs at the same time while the other team is playing small is inexcusable. Led to two easy Knicks baskets because Harrell had to defend the perimeter and a Sixers turnover due to lack of spacing. That stretch could easily end up deciding the game https://t.co/1JEfFRwN2E
— Adam Aaronson (@SixersAdam) November 5, 2022
Is today still a great day to fire Doc?
— Sixers Nation (@PHLSixersNation) November 5, 2022
Doc Rivers chose to bench PJ Tucker for Paul Reed two minutes in, and Reed just fouled Jalen Brunson for an and-one to put New York up 4 with 1:05 to go. Can’t say I expected to see Randle-Toppin vs. Harrell-Reed with 2 minutes to go tonight.
— Tim Bontemps (@TimBontemps) November 5, 2022
Tyrese Maxey’s last 6 games:
31 Points, 5 Rebounds, 6 Assists
44 Points, 8 Rebounds, 4 Assists
14 Points, 5 Rebounds, 3 Assists
28 Points, 3 Rebounds, 3 Assists
32 Points, 2 Rebounds, 4 Assists
31 Points, 3 Rebounds, 7 Assists pic.twitter.com/WwlqdAwR3Z— Hoop Central (@TheHoopCentral) November 5, 2022
Obi Toppin and Julius Randle played together for a little more than 10 minutes tonight.
During that time, the Knicks outscored the 76ers 29-15.
— Fred Katz (@FredKatz) November 5, 2022
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