PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — In 43 games, the Sixers have a 30-13 record — but the 30th win was anything but pretty.
The 76ers somehow left Madison Square Garden with a 101-100 overtime victory against the New York Knicks, but they did so in a controversial fashion.
Trailing 100-99 with seconds winding down, Sixers guard Shake Milton unsuccessfully tried to take the lead with a semi-fadeaway runner on the left side of the basket. Knicks center Nerlens Noel grabbed the rebound, essentially sealing the game for New York.
However, Knicks All-Star Julius Randle was called for shoving Sixer Tobias Harris in the back, who was crashing the offensive glass. New York was in the penalty, which put Harris on the foul line with 5.3 seconds left — much to his and the Knicks’ disagreement.
The Knicks called a timeout in between the foul and Harris’ foul attempts.
Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau was apparently under the impression that he challenged the foul on Randle. According to crew chief Courtney Kirkland, Thibodeau waited too long to challenge the foul.
Harris made both free throws, and New York was out of timeouts, so they had to immediately go the length of the floor to try to win the game. Randle’s attempt rimmed in and out.
During his postgame video conference, he didn’t hold back.
“After all the fouling and everything that was going on and for them to call that and decide the game is (expletive) ridiculous. It’s ridiculous,” Randle said. “They gotta do a better job.”
Thibodeau’s postgame aggravation was more visual than verbal.
“You could see him shove ’em,” added Sixers head coach Doc Rivers. “It’s clearly a foul. A lot of good rules stuff tonight, and a lot of just horrendous execution by us tonight.”
The Sixers were fortunate to leave the city with a win. They had a chance to ice the game late in regulation, but Harris missed a pair of foul shots, and then Randle bounced in a corner three to tie the game and force overtime.
This was night two of a back-to-back for the Sixers, and they made too many mistakes. But good teams find a way to win, and now they can take this momentum into the rest of their six-game road trip on the West Coast.
While Harris thought it great they came away with the W, he knows that type of play won’t work in the postseason — whether Joel Embiid is physically healthy or not.
“I look at myself individually … that’s not gonna cut it in playoff basketball because it’s a different type of intensity and there were too many mistakes,” Harris said. “I personally look at that and say we gotta go to the drawing board, watch the film and see ways to evolve and be better.
“For this team, that’s like the whole group mentality of, yeah, it’s great to get this win and we got it, but tomorrow we’re gonna lock in and get in this film session and understand areas that we can grow in, so five, six games from now, when we’re in a nailbiter, we don’t have those same types of mistakes.”