It was one of the biggest questions ahead of the series.
Who on the Knicks would get the responsibility of guarding the explosive and dynamic Tyrese Maxey?
Josh Hart spent the end of the first round guarding the Hawks’ most dangerous guard, CJ McCollum. OG Anunoby often guards the opponent’s best scorer, regardless of their position. But Maxey’s quickness isn’t a great fit for Hart or Anunoby.
So Mikal Bridges, back as the Knicks point-of-attack defender, got the assignment. When he came out of the game, it was Miles McBride who matched up with Maxey.
And they both aced the test.
“That was huge,” Josh Hart said after practice Tuesday. “Both of those guys obviously are blessed enough athletically to be able to keep up with them, use their physicality, use their length to their advantage. Maxey obviously is an offense unto himself, being able to break out in transition. He’s tough to guard off those handoffs and ball screens so they did an amazing job on him and just have to continue it.”
Maxey finished with just 13 points on rough 3-for-9 shooting from the field while missing all three 3-pointers he took. None of those three field goals came against Bridges or McBride. He committed four turnovers.
It was his lowest point total since Jan. 26. In the first round against the Celtics, he averaged 26.9 points on 46.4 percent shooting from the field and 41.8 percent shooting from 3-point range.
“I feel like the whole team was just locked in, honestly,” McBride said Tuesday. “Mikal started off on him really well and then I came in, but there were times where other guys were matched up with him, and all of our antennas are up just guarding him as a team.”
It was clear the Knicks placed an emphasis on slowing down Maxey, often having a second defender ready to help Bridges or McBride. They were physical with him — particularly when the 76ers tried to get him going in the pick-and-roll. The only concern was that he was able to get to the free-throw line more than the Knicks would have wanted — he took seven free throws, making all of them.
His usage was also a bit perplexing — there were long stretches where he was not assertive. He didn’t make a field goal until midway through the second quarter. His nine shots were by far the fewest he took so far in the postseason — and fewest in any game since Feb. 3.
Charles Wenzelberg / New York Post
The Knicks expect that to change.
“We know Maxey is going to be more aggressive,” coach Mike Brown said Tuesday. “So we have to be more alert than we were in our last game.”
They also acknowledge they perhaps benefited from a bit of luck.
“He missed some shots, too,” Brown said. “We know his aggression is gonna be at a higher level in Game 2. Like we told all our guys, it’s five guys guarding the basketball, but at the point of attack, we have to be pretty good. The biggest thing with guarding Maxey at the point of attack is, he just moves so well and he can score at all three levels. His quickness, his athleticism for his size is second to none, because he’s able to score from all three levels. So you have to give a multiple effort on every single possession because when he gives it up, you can best bet that he’s gonna get it back at some point on that possession, if not right away.”
The 76ers will certainly have countermoves they try in Game 2 to get Maxey going. Because if he’s as poor as he was in Game 1, they have little chance.
But in Bridges and McBride, the Knicks might have the answers.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
