The Philadelphia 76ers were struggling to find any rhythm as they found themselves trailing the New York Knicks 51-39 at halftime. It was a rough half overall that saw the Sixers trail the Knicks by as many as 16. Much like in their win over New York on November 20, they found a way to rally and win the game.
The Sixers outscored New York 62-44 in the second half on their way to a 101-95 win on Friday night. Joel Embiid led Philadelphia with 27 points and 17 rebounds while James Ennis III had 20 points and Tobias Harris added 13 points in the half on his way to 19 for the game.
Coach Brett Brown spoke on Harris’ performance in the final 24 minutes post-game:
I think that he was trying to put his thumbprint on the game for the most part throughout, but it is true. I thought he had a pretty solid game throughout the game, but probably the second half was more recognized, but I think that he was just very aggressive trying to play downhill, body-body ball stuff, physicality stuff, I thought he didn’t back off from, and we needed all of that from both James and Tobias tonight.
Brett Brown on what changed with Tobias Harris in the 2nd half #Sixers pic.twitter.com/kXMTvydH9a
— Ky Carlin (@Ky_Carlin) November 30, 2019
The Sixers are a much more talented team on paper compared to the Knicks so this is something that should happen on a regular basis, but Philadelphia needed to flip the switch a little bit after a very sluggish first half. The energy was just much better at halftime as they locked in defensively and they moved the ball much better.
Harris spoke on it saying:
Not really necessarily with a purpose, but more we played with a lot more energy. We had more movement in our offense, our defense was with more of a sense of urgency, so that’s really where it came from.
Philadelphia will now need to take this and bring it home with them on Saturday when they welcome in the Indiana Pacers. It would definitely help this team if they could play like this for the full 48 minutes. [lawrence-related id=20230,20203,20210]