Tyrese Maxey scored 46 points, including the tying 35-foot 3-pointer late in regulation, and Kelly Oubre Jr. hit a tiebreaking layup in overtime as the visiting Philadelphia 76ers avoided elimination with a 112-106 victory over the New York Knicks Tuesday night in Game 5 of their first-round series.
Game 6 of their Eastern Conference series is Thursday in Philadelphia, and if the 76ers can extend the series again, the teams will play a seventh game Saturday in New York.
Jalen Brunson led New York with 40 points.
The Knicks were 28.9 seconds away from closing out the series after Miles McBride’s 14-footer put them up 96-90.
Following a timeout, Maxey, who scored a career-playoff high in points, converted a four-point play with 25.4 seconds in regulation.
“We knew we had to get some threes up. I just tried to get a spot and raise and shoot. Thankfully he (New York’s Mitchell Robinson) jumped,” Maxey said. “I didn’t get my feet set right away to shoot it. I was able to kind of lean in and make a shot.”
After New York’s Josh Hart split two free throws with 15.3 seconds left, Maxey buried a 35-foot trey with 8.5 seconds left for a tie at 97.
“We had to get up the floor quick and get a three ball up,” Philadelphia coach Nick Nurse said of the tying trey. “I’m glad that we didn’t mess around and try to keep working for something or whatever. We had a little play call that has a counter to it, and one of the options is him pulling up. I know that was a deep one, but he raced it up there and took his chance.”
The game reached overtime when Nicolas Batum blocked Brunson’s 10-footer right before the horn.
“Tough way to lose a ballgame,” Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said. “We had a lead. We got to play tougher with the lead. We fouled in a situation that we didn’t want to foul in, and in the end, Maxey makes a big shot. So we got to do better.”
Brunson scored the first five points of overtime, but the Sixers countered with nine straight points for a 106-102 lead on Embiid’s 3-point play with 1:40 left. After Embiid was called for a flagrant one foul, Brunson split two free throws and sank a 3-pointer with 1:14 left.
Oubre got the ball from Batum and hit a well-contested layup to snap the tie with just over a minute left, and Brunson missed a layup with 42.5 seconds left. After the teams traded turnovers, Tobias Harris and Maxey each converted two free throws in the final 15.8 seconds to keep the series going.
Maxey made 17-of-30 shots and hit seven 3-pointers for the Sixers, who survived Embiid hobbling through the game. Embiid added 19 points, 16 rebounds and 10 assists after missing the morning shootaround with a migraine.
Harris contributed 19 points and Oubre finished with 14 as the Sixers shot 46.2 percent and were 15 of 39 from 3-point range.
Hart added 18 points and OG Anunoby chipped in 17 for New York, which shot 46.5 percent but was just 10 of 36 from behind the arc.
The third quarter featured 12 lead changes, and Hart’s jumper in the lane with 1:03 left put New York ahead 70-69 entering the fourth.
Batum hit an uncontested 3-pointer for a 74-70 Philadelphia lead 40 seconds into the fourth, resulting in a New York timeout. A Maxey trey put the Sixers up 77-72 with 8:58 left, and following consecutive turnovers by Philadelphia, baskets by Anunoby and McBride put the Knicks ahead 80-77 with 6:15 to play. Brunson’s three-point play made it 85-79 with 5:03 left.
The Knicks took a 91-86 lead when Anunoby dunked over Maxey with 1:39 left, and Brunson’s 14-footer over Batum pushed the lead to 93-88 with 1:12 remaining.
–Field Level Media