NEW YORK — The Philadelphia 76ers needed a win on Sunday. They couldn’t afford a fourth consecutive loss as they paid a visit to the New York Knicks to begin a 3-game road trip, two at Madison Square Garden.
The Sixers had dropped the first two matchups to the Knicks on the season as New York had invaded the Wells Fargo Center and beat the Sixers in many facets. The Knicks were just tougher than Philadelphia in every way.
That wasn’t the case on Sunday as the Sixers out-toughed the Knicks on their way to a 79-73 victory. Philadelphia held New York star Jalen Brunson to 6-for-22 shooting and the Sixers did a great job of battling which was a challenge from coach Nick Nurse.
“The last two games when they came to Philly, they were very, very physical on us,” said Nic Batum. “They kicked our ass twice, really. They were very, very physical. It’s not like sometimes you can miss a game. No, they went at us and they like really, really went at us. We needed to respond. That was Coach’s message this morning: ‘What are you going to do about it? They came to your house and punked us twice.'”
The Sixers were able to respond in a big way. Despite missing Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey, De’Anthony Melton, and Robert Covington, the Sixers were able to get down and dirty defensively. They were gritty and they showed a toughness that’s needed in order to win in this league.
“We have to respond at least,” Batum added. “We’re missing Tyrese, we’re missing Joel, RoCo, and Melt. We’re missing a lot of key guys and we lost the last three…We had to get a response against a very good team, in a tough, tough place to play. Tuesday is gonna be another fight. After what happened in the previous two games and this one? It should be another fight.”
The Sixers will look to pick up another win on Tuesday with Nurse continuing to guide this group.
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