by The New York Knicks stormed home with a 32-18 final period to defeat the visiting Philadelphia 76ers 108-97 on Sunday.
The Knicks were on the second night of a back-to-back, coming home from a disappointing overtime loss at home to the Los Angeles Clippers, but they stabilized the ship to avoid a fourth loss of their past five.
Point guard Jalen Brunson finished with 21 points on six-of-16 shooting with seven assists and five rebounds, while All-Star teammate Julius Randle posted 24 points (eight-of-19), nine rebounds and seven assists.
They were solid but inefficient, shooting a combined 40 percent from the field, while both finished with plus/minus marks in the minuses.
What won the game for the Knicks was their production off the bench. Evan Fournier scored a season-high 17 points (six-of-11), Deuce McBride added 14 points (three-of-eight), and the pair combined to shoot eight-of-14 from long range as both scored a plus placed /minus of plus 28 or better.
Backup center Isaiah Hartenstein had a similar impact, grabbing an equal season-high 14 rebounds in his fourth straight appearance with at least 10 boards.
MVP candidate Joel Embiid was respectable to the 76ers, finishing six of 16 from the field, but he still produced 31 points and 14 rebounds after shooting 18 of 19 from the free throw line.
With the win, the Knicks improved their record to 29-26, and they are now just half a game away from the six seed in the Eastern Conference.
Balanced raptors overcome Morantless grizzly bears
With Ja Morant injured, the Memphis Grizzlies were unable to protect their stretch lead and went down 106-103 at home to the Toronto Raptors.
The Grizzlies led by 15 points late in the third quarter before the Raptors closed the show with a 40-22 run.
Seven of the eight Raptors to play finished with between 10 and 19 points, with Pascal Siakam’s 19 points on seven-of-17 shooting leading the score, while Scottie Barnes was a threat defensively as he had two more steals and two blocks to spare. had to go. 16 points and seven rebounds.
Desmond Bane (26 points and four steals) and Jars Jackson Jr (18 points and four blocks) were the bright spots for the Grizzlies, who are now four-and-a-half games behind Western Conference-leading Denver, 32-21 nuggets.
Cavs starters relieve the Pacers
The Cleveland Cavaliers’ starting five shot a blistering 58.7 percent from the field as they blew out the Indiana Pacers 122-103 on the road.
Donovan Mitchell had 19 points on six-of-18 shots, but he was the only Cleveland starter to hit less than half of his shots as Darius Garland (eight-of-13), Evan Mobley (seven-of-12) , Jarrett Allen (nine-of-11) and Isaac Okoro (seven-of-nine) combined to score 68.8 percent.
Recently expanded Pacers center Myles Turner had a strong production in the losing effort, finishing with 27 points (nine of 18), 10 rebounds and three blocks.
