Tyrese Maxey could only think about 76ers’ survival before stunning Knicks: ‘Find a way’
NY Post
Philadelphia’s season seemed destined to die Tuesday in the Garden.
Then Tyrese Maxey turned destiny around with an all-time playoff performance.
First his last-minute blitz and logo 3 forced overtime. Then his dominant night helped the Sixers pull out a 112-106 come-from-behind Game 5 win at the sold-out Garden that staved off elimination.
“Going through my mind right there was just, find a way to survive,” Maxey said. “We had to [win]. Our season on the line.”
Maxey poured in a game-high 46 points, including seven in the frenetic final 26 seconds of regulation with Joel Embiid struggling.
“It went in our favor thanks to Tyrese Maxey,” Embiid said. “He was unbelievable. Hitting big shots after big shots. Especially, with everything going on. Tobias [Harris] was amazing throughout the whole game. I think all my teammates. They did their job. Yeah. We got the win.”
PHOENIX — You think of Tom Thibodeau, you think of defense.
It feels right that on the day we celebrate Aaron Judge joining an elite pantheon of athlete — the multi-time winner of the Most Valuable Player award — that we take a walk back to the beginning, when Judge was little more than a 6-foot-7, 280-pound curiosity who mostly specialized in striking out.
The NFL has warned its players to take precautions against a “transnational crime ring” that is suspected of orchestrating a number of break-ins of athletes’ homes including Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce.
Joel Embiid isn’t pleased with details of the 76ers’ team meeting after Monday’s loss being leaked, telling reporters after Wednesday’s road loss to the Grizzlies, “whoever leaked that is a real piece of s–t.”
PHOENIX — Jalen Brunson didn’t want to comment on the NBA looking into his father’s promotion and contract as a potential salary-cap circumvention, but the point guard certainly had a message to anybody questioning Rick Brunson’s coaching credentials.
PHOENIX — Wednesday brought some cautiously optimistic updates for the Knicks frontcourt.
The Greatest Escape in franchise history was perpetrated by Glen Sather, when the general manager extricated himself and the Rangers from the final five years of Scott Gomez’s contract by moving the $7,357,143-per-year center to Montreal on June 30, 2009 after two years in New York.
The Yankees publicly are on the same page: Hal Steinbrenner, like Brian Cashman and Aaron Boone before him, said that issues with the club’s fundamentals did not hover over the team all season.
The first day of the rest of Daniel Jones’ dwindling time with the Giants arrived Wednesday, with Jones in the building, in the meetings, on the practice field (although not doing very much) and not at all part of the game plan for the next game, relegated to a non-participant role for the remainder of the season.
There will be a little extra magic for Knicks-Spurs on Christmas Day.