With the clock winding down at Madison Square Garden, the ball slipped from Joel Embiid’s grasp as 19,812 stunned witnesses held their breath, their voices silenced for Tuesday morning. Embiid, a formidable force even on one leg, seemed destined to shatter one of the most captivating Knicks playoff finishes in memory.
The Knicks had appeared doomed, trailing by five with under 30 seconds remaining. The Garden had fallen deafeningly quiet, as if someone had pulled the plug. They had stumbled to a quick 9-0 deficit, then squandered an eight-point lead in the fourth quarter. The 76ers were poised to steal home-court advantage, mere moments away from victory.
But as Josh Hart would later declare, “At that point, we had nothing to lose.” Amidst a chaotic possession, the ball miraculously ended up in Jalen Brunson’s hands in the corner. He faked a shot, sidestepped, and landed centimeters outside the three-point line. Brunson, the Knicks’ bedrock all season, had struggled to find his rhythm, missing 21 of his first 28 shots. His 29th attempt seemed destined to follow suit, but somehow, the basket at the Seventh Avenue end of the Garden transformed into a forgiving friend. The ball found the net, bringing the score to 101-99 with just 27 seconds remaining.
“You need good fortune,” Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau remarked. “Sometimes, the bounce goes your way.”
The 76ers attempted to inbound the ball, but Tyrese Maxey, who had been a constant menace with 35 points and five three-pointers, found himself trapped. Sixers coach Nick Nurse’s frantic appeals to the referees for a timeout fell on deaf ears. Maxey struggled to pivot out, relentlessly hounded by Brunson and Hart. It was fittingly Hart, who had played 48 grueling minutes, who snatched the ball away, giving the Knicks possession.
“He gives the team toughness, real toughness,” Thibodeau said of Hart. “That’s a big part of the fabric of this team.”
Donte DiVincenzo’s three-point attempt sailed wide. Another scramble ensued at the Seventh Avenue end, and it was Isaiah Hartenstein, another indispensable piece of the Knicks’ resolve, who miraculously secured the rebound. “We don’t give up,” Hartenstein asserted. “There’s a lot of teams that might give up in that situation, but we don’t. It starts with [Thibodeau], who won’t let us, but the whole team buys in.”
DiVincenzo reclaimed the ball, this time sinking a three-pointer, giving the Knicks a slim one-point lead. “We had a belief we could come back,” Hartenstein said. “And we did.”
The Garden erupted, echoing the cacophony of Metallica amplifiers. Despite the Knicks’ near-demise mere seconds earlier, the crowd remained in full force, their disbelief palpable. The Seventh Avenue end, notorious for its history of heartaches, witnessed a remarkable turnaround, exorcising the ghosts of missed layups by Charles Smith and Patrick Ewing’s agonizing finger roll.
Maxey’s drive attempt failed, and at the other end, OG Anunoby sank two free throws. In a final act of desperation, Embiid launched a shot from 28 feet away, his grimace evident as it harmlessly bounced away. The Knicks had triumphed 104-101, sending the crowd into a frenzy.
Years from now, as this game is inevitably recounted, the precise details may fade, but the memory of the Garden’s foundations trembling with DiVincenzo’s shot and Embiid’s miss will endure. “I never think the games are over,” Thibodeau said, echoing the Knicks’ unwavering belief.
The series, however, is far from over. Concerns linger for the Knicks as they head south for Thursday’s Game 3. Maxey, despite battling illness, proved formidable, and Embiid remained unstoppable, despite his injuries. Brunson’s shooting has been erratic, raising questions about the team’s consistency. The Knicks are aware that they could easily be trailing 0-2 instead of leading 2-0, and the Philadelphia 76ers await their return with confidence.
“We’re gonna win this series,” Embiid declared postgame. “We know what we have to fix, and we’re gonna fix it. We’re the better team.”
Only time will tell. For now, the Knicks hold the upper hand, bolstered by another outstanding performance from Hart, the Iron Horse, who notched 21 points and 15 rebounds. Bojan Bogdanovic once again made his presence felt off the bench, contributing two crucial three-pointers in the fourth quarter.
“You never know whose night it going to be with this team,” said Miles McBride, who followed up his breakout performance in Game 1 with a solid 21 minutes in Game 2.
One thing remains clear: never count out the Knicks until the final buzzer sounds. Sometimes, as they have proven, the bounces truly do go your way.
