The NBA's Christmas Day slate got off to an exciting start as the Philadelphia 76ers managed to come from behind to take down the New York Knicks, 119-112, at Madison Square Garden. After trailing for the majority of the game, the Sixers dominated the fourth quarter in order to come away with a rather comfortable victory.
Philadelphia's stars shined bright as Joel Embiid led the way with 35 points and eight rebounds while James Harden was equally impressive putting up a line of 29 points, 13 assists and four steals as well. In the end, that was enough to get the job done against a Knicks squad that's offense was spearheaded by Julius Randle and Jalen Brunson as the duo combined for 58 points in the loss.
With the win, the Sixers improve to 20-12 on the season while the Knicks fall to 18-16. Here are the three biggest takeaways from today's game
Rumors tend not to be kind to James Harden's game. He shot 5-of-16 from the field in his final game as a Rocket, a blowout loss to the Lakers, before he called the situation unfixable. He was soon traded to Brooklyn from there. And then, infamously, he scored only four points in his final game with the Nets, a loss against the Sacramento Kings. Now he's a member of the Philadelphia 76ers, but if today's news is to be believed, he might not be for much longer.
ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reported Sunday that Harden is considering a return to the Rockets in free agency this summer. Harden left money on the table to re-sign in Philadelphia this off-season. The Sixers have now won eight games in a row. The timing of the report was odd, to say the least, but that much smoke on Christmas almost has to indicate a fire. Given Harden's history, a poor game felt almost inevitable.
That's not what happened. Harden finished with 29 points and 13 assists, but the numbers don't quite do him justice. He took over once Joel Embiid went to the bench in the third quarter, scoring 10 quick points to tie the game and assisting Georges Niang on the 3-pointer that gave Philly the lead. This wasn't just a win or a statement performance, it was a clutch masterpiece that contradicts Harden's own personal history. Will that mean something as Philadelphia competes for a title and tries to erase Harden's past meltdowns in big games? Only time will tell, but this was an encouraging start.
Joel Embiid is sitting at 10-to-1 to win MVP at Caesars Sportsbook, but today was the sort of signature performance that's going to vault him up the leaderboard. Embiid netted 35 points in a comeback Christmas win on the road to extend Philly's winning streak to eight. With their next game coming against the Wizards, that streak is almost certainly getting to nine and perhaps double digits. Embiid is now averaging 33 points per game on a team that missed Harden for a month and has barely had Tyrese Maxey.
In other words, we're exactly where we've been the past two Decembers. Embiid starts slow and comes on like a freight train right around this time of year. He's been the runner-up in the past two MVP races. This year's race is significantly more crowded, with Kevin Durant, Jayson Tatum and Giannis Antetokounmpo joining Nikola Jokic at the top. But any notion that a slow start would keep Embiid out of the hunt now needs to fade. He's as good as ever and the Sixers are starting to reflect that.
It's an oversimplification to say that Philadelphia's superstars were the difference in this game. That ignores De'Anthony Melton's five early 3-pointers and a host of other contributions. But here's the stat of the day: Harden and Embiid scored 37 points in the second half, while New York didn't even score 37 points in the last 20 total minutes of the game. Harden and Embiid took over in the second half. New York had no response. Julius Randle started the game with 25 in the first half and ended the game with 35.
Again, it's an oversimplification to reduce the game to that, but there's a reason New York's roster-building strategy appears to be "wait until we can trade for a superstar." The Knicks understand that as well as Randle and Jalen Brunson have played, they aren't going to be able to keep up with the Hardens and Embiids of the world when it really counts. Christmas isn't the playoffs. It's only going to get harder in April, as the Knicks learned against Atlanta in 2021. Until this team makes the trade it's been waiting for, outcomes like this are going to be sadly predictable.
The Knicks led this game by 14 points in the first half. Philly dominated New York so thoroughly in the second that they themselves led by 14. In the end, New York couldn't overcome James Harden and Joel Embiid and the Sixers win, 119-112.
Reminder that the Knicks were down double digits until around the one-minute mark, and even down seven, they chose to allow the Sixers to run out the 24-second clock twice rather than foul and play the free throw game. It's not like a Knicks win was likely, but they didn't do themselves any favors there. You probably aren't going to score seven points in 24 seconds, and that's what their strategy necessitated.
The temperature has been in the teens in New York this week, and the Knicks are finally feeling it. They have six points in the last nine minutes. Their offense has devolved into aimless dribbling and 3-point hoists. Now Jalen Brunson is out of the game, and the Knicks have no answers whatsoever.
Joel Embiid and James Harden are both having great games, but they're doing it largely separately. Harden's late third-quarter stretch into the fourth has largely been individual creation, especially on those 3-pointers. Embiid is getting his points on unassisted jumpers and offensive rebounds. There hasn't been much synergy, but synergy hasn't been necessary with both of them playing this well.
We're five minutes into the fourth quarter, and the Knicks have just four points. The Sixers have 13 and now lead by eight. The Knicks went ice cold at the worst time, and now Philly is in command with under seven minutes to play.
Once Niang put the Sixers up by three, the offenses both went ice cold. Two minutes of action yielded no points and six missed 3-pointers. Both teams need to find their bearings quickly here with under nine minutes to go.
That's three straight 3-pointers for Harden—including a four-point play—to tie this game at 98, and soon after, Georges Niang makes another 3-pointer to give Philly its first lead at 101-98. This is a newsworthy day for Harden, dealing with rumors of interest in a return to Houston, but he's backed up the noise with an incredible game thus far.
The Knicks easily could've run away with this thing once Joel Embiid went to the bench, but thanks to James Harden, it's as close as it's ever been. He followed up a four-point play with another 3-pointer to cut New York's lead down to one at 96-95 with a quarter to play. Philly has never led, but they'll have their shot in the fourth quarter.
Joel Embiid goes to the bench for Montrezl Harrell, and with a five-point lead, this is the logical chance for the Knicks to blow this game open. With De'Anthony Melton in foul trouble, Philly's defense is compromised. If the Sixers can keep this close, they can win it late.
The Knicks lead the rebounding (30 to 19), assist (25 to 15), turnover (3 to 4) and 3-pointer (11 to 10) battles. So how is this game close? Philly has taken 25 free throws and New York has taken 13.
That alley oop to Mitchell Robinson was New York's 38th paint point. Philly has 20. That's been one of the major differences here. The Sixers make life so difficult on themselves. Joel Embiid makes these incredible highlight plays... and they count for the same points as New York's easy buckets.
Imagine telling yourself a decade ago that we'd be watching two big men duel on Christmas largely by shooting jumpers. That's what's going on today. Joel Embiid and Julius Randle have combined for 55 points thus far largely on perimeter haymakers.
This is a major blow for Philly: De'Anthony Melton goes to the bench with his fourth foul. He's five-for-five from deep thus far, but more importantly, his defense is really essential next to James Harden, who really isn't very active on that end of the floor. Philly is going to have to step up offensively to compensate for his absence.
As the broadcast pointed out, Julius Randle's 25 points ties the record for most in a half of a Christmas game. Someone's having a very merry Christmas.
In a game featuring James Harden and Joel Embiid, the best player by far has been Julius Randle. He's got 25 on 9-of-15 shooting, but a Shake Milton half-court prayer cuts the Knicks lead to 63-60 at the half.
It's odd to think Mitchell Robinson's foul trouble could make such a difference, but the Knicks are +10 with him on the floor and -6 with him off it. He's been the only Knick who can contain Joel Embiid thus far.
The Knicks lead the Sixers 25-15 in rebounds and 19-2 in second-chance points. Yes, we know Philly isn't a great rebounding team, but many of these rebounds are just poor effort on their part. The Knicks lead largely based off of what's happening on the glass.
P.J. Tucker has never been a prolific scorer, but he's taken his shot avoidance to new levels this year. He's averaging just 3.1 field goal attempts per game on the season, and we just saw him pass up a wide open floater to throw it into Joel Embiid in traffic.
Does that pun work? Melton? Melting? You get the idea. De'Anthony Melton is now 3-of-3 from deep, and that's been the norm lately. He's made almost 42 percent of his 3's in his last eight games.
The Harden-Embiid pick-and-roll works so well because it's so varied. The Knicks are playing Mitchell Robinson closer to the level of the screen than they'd probably like, so Philly just adjusted by having Harden skip a pocket pass between Grimes and Robinson to give Embiid a clear path to the basket.
The story of this game can really be told in the assist column. The Knicks have assisted on 12 of their 14 field goals. The 76ers have assisted on five of their 10. You can get away with iso ball against bad defenses. The Knicks are quite good defensively, and the Sixers don't seem to have any alternative.
J.J. Reddick makes an interesting point about this backup group for the Knicks. In theory, the Hartenstein-Sims pairing shouldn't work. Neither can shoot 3's and they're both centers defensively. But Hartenstein is a better rim-protector. Sims is a bit more mobile. Hartenstein can pass and make floaters. Their skill sets contrast enough to make it work, and it largely has.
Typically, the Sixers really struggle when Joel Embiid goes to the bench, but with the starters losing the opening minutes by 14, the bench for Philly has at least managed to stop the bleeding a little bit here. It's 37-25 Knicks after one.
Another major flaw of Philly's? Transition defense. The Knicks just had three players race out to a fast break with no resistance. The Sixers give up more free points than almost any other team in the NBA.
Mitchell Robinson has six rebounds thus far in the first quarter, but that shouldn't surprise anyone. Philly ranks 28th in the NBA in rebounding this season, and Joel Embiid is basically the only Sixer to rebound consistently. That's the price they pay for emphasizing shooting and on-ball defense, and the Knicks are punishing them for it.
As noted on the broadcast, that was the seventh Knicks assist of the game out of 25 total points. The Knicks have an interesting roster construction from a playmaking perspective. There isn't an elite passer anywhere on the roster, but Julius Randle is so much better than most forwards that there are a lot of avenues for passing that most teams don't have access to. That makes up for their lack of a pass-first point guard.
Few guards in basketball are better at using big men as hiding places than Jalen Brunson. The Sixers dropped that dribble hand-off, so Brunson quickly hid behind Mitchell Robinson's screen and buried the 3 before his defender could get back in the play.
If you've noticed quite a bit of action around the free-throw line, that's what happens when two teams playing drop coverage play each other. The Knicks and Sixers both sell out to stop shots at the rim, so those floaters and mid-range looks will be there all day.
Julius Randle hits two quick 3's to give the Sixers an 8-2 lead. Randle's shooting is a hugely significant development for the Knicks. He made all of his jumpers when he won Most Improved Player in 2021. He missed most of them last season in a disappointing year. The truth lies somewhere in between, but lately, those jumpers have started to fall at closer to 2021 levels, and that's been the case so far here.
It feels fitting that James Harden is the first Sixer to score. Amazingly, on Christmas morning, we got news that Harden is considering a return to Houston as a free agent this offseason. Harden has changed teams twice in the past 23 months.
