Game 5 came down to the battle of the All-Star guards: Jalen Brunson vs. Tyrese Maxey.
It was familiar territory for Brunson with the Knicks looking to avoid a Game 6 on the road Thursday. The scene at Madison Square Garden was set and he had one goal: put the Knicks on his back.
But Maxey, the newly-crowned Most Improved Improved Player, willed his team into overtime after being down six with just 28.2 second remaining. After Josh Hart split a pair at the charity stripe, Maxey managed to get the ball back with his team down three in the final possession. Maxey then made it look easy by running up the court and knocking down a game-tying 34-footer. The deep trey capped seven Maxey points in just 17 seconds during the final moments of regulation.
The Reggie Miller-like barrage erased Brunson’s fadeaway jumper over a lengthy Nicolas Batum and assisted bucket to Miles “Deuce” McBride during the final minute. The McBride jumper should’ve been enough to book the Knicks a ticket for Game 1 in the second round of the playoffs, Instead, Maxey’s cold-blooded performance gives the Knicks a ticket for one last matchup two hours down the road inside Philadelphia’s Wells Fargo Center on Thursday.
“That’s what he does,” Brunson said postgame about Maxey’s ability to trade shots late in the game. “You got to pick your poison. Either him or Joel. He was able to make some big time shots.
“Obviously, we want to make it a little more difficult for him but he made some tough shots as well.”
The two stars continued to trade baskets in the extra period. Whenever Brunson scored, Maxey followed. Eventually it came down to the Knicks down four and Joel Embiid getting charged with a flagrant foul on Brunson. The Knicks guard hit one free throw then tied the game on the following possession.
Brunson was brilliant all night. He played 51 of the total 53 minutes in Game 5. The defenders that slowed him down in Games 1 and 2 now had no answer for his shiftiness and elite shotmaking. But his turnover with 18 seconds remaining in overtime down three essentially put the game out of reach. It brought flashbacks of his costly turnover against the Miami Heat in last year’s postseason.
Brunson attempted to get a pass to Isaiah Hartenstein near the corner but the ball flew out of bounds. He tried to correct the mistake on the next possession but missed a floater with nine seconds remaining. The star described the turnover as “careless” postgame and said: “Not good judgement on my part.”
Just like that, Maxey won the battle. And he’ll give his team a chance to force a do-or-die Game 7.
Maxey finished with 46 points, nine assists and five boards in the 112-106 Sixers Game 5 victory. He put the basketball world on notice with his masterclass. The young star used a killer crossover on McBride — a more than capable defender — to drain one of his seven three-pointers. He constantly got a step on defenders with — and without — ball screens to attack the rim. Each time the pendulum shifted in favor of the home team with a Brunson play, Maxey responded to shock the crowd.
“Maxey had a huge game on us,” Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau said. “He’s explosive. Doesn’t take much to get him going. We gave him too much. Once he [gets] in rhythm, he’s hard to slow down.”
Brunson poured in 40 of his own points to go along with six assists, three rebounds and three steals.
The Sixers bumped and contested Brunson all night. Nick Nurse deployed a two-man trap on Brunson in the first half, which didn’t yield much positive results for the Sixers. Two lengthy players constantly tried to pressure Brunson at the point of attack. The press wasn’t hard enough, however, and created open lanes for Knick players. Brunson targeted Hartenstein and Hart numerous times on those possessions. They all benefited from hockey assists and the trio had two assists each by halftime. Hart and Hartenstein ended the night with four assists each.
Brunson’s load grew bigger with the news of Bojan Bogdanovic’s left foot injury requiring a postseason-ending surgery. And with Thibodeau looking for more help from role players, Donte DiVincenzo was forced to sit after recording three early fouls with 10 minutes remaining in the second quarter.
The Knicks had no answer for Maxey in the first four games and to no surprise, the theme continued Tuesday night. He dictated the pace in all 52 minutes he played and carried the Sixers on a night where it seemed like all the “F–k Embiid” chants got into the head of the reigning MVP.
Embiid totaled nine turnovers and shot 7-for-19 from the field. He scored 19 points, grabbed 16 rebounds and dished 10 assists.
Maxey did enough to keep the ship afloat. Brunson said the Knicks adjusted defensive coverages on the Most Improved Player, but not enough was done to secure a series-clinching win.
“We did some different things,” Brunson said. “Good players are always going to adjust.”