The New York Knicks bounced back from a tough loss in style on Tuesday night, defeating the Philadelphia 76ers with Joel Embiid back and the NBA Cup opener by a score of 111-99. New York improved back to .500 on the season at 5-5 while Philadelphia continued its poor start to the season and fell to 2-8.
The 76ers were missing All-Star guard Tyrese Maxey for this game, but they still had Paul George and Embiid. The Knicks did a great job of keeping the 2023 MVP from taking over the game, as Embiid scored just 13 points on 2-of-11 shooting in his season debut.
Overall, the 76ers shot just 37% from the field and 33% from three. They scored about a fifth of their points from the free throw line (23-of-24) and all five Knicks starters recorded at least one steal. The Knicks had eight steals on the night, with Mikal Bridges and Miles McBride each recording two.
After a poor defensive effort against the Indiana Pacers on Sunday, this was a solid bounce-back performance from the Knicks on that end of the floor. Along with their stronger perimeter play, they improved significantly inside as they allowed just 30 points in the paint and scored 54 on offense.