• Tweet

It isn’t every day that two Eastern Conference teams go retro and decide to score tons of points – something that hasn’t been seen since the ABA era. Yet it happened Saturday night when the Philadelphia 76ers paid a visit to Madison Square Garden to take on the New York Knicks. Both teams shot very well as the Sixers did have a 23-point lead; however, they let that advantage slip away before kicking into overdrive in overtime – with the end result being Philadelphia defeating New York 141-127.

The Sixers got off to a roaring start as they were already holding a double-digit lead just over halfway through the period; they led by as many as 16 while shooting a blistering 73% while building a 40-25 lead. Meanwhile, the Knicks were hanging on by a thread as they went into halftime down by 70-51.

The Sixers’ lead grew to as many as 23, but the Knicks would trim the lead to 96-81 after three quarters. And there was more. Fast-forwarding to late in the fourth quarter, a three point play by the Knicks’ Al Harrington and a 3-point basket by Danilo Gallinari cut Philadelphia’s lead to 121-120 with 11 seconds left in the game. After the Sixers’ Jason Kapono made only one of 2 free throws, Chris Duhon drove for a game-tying layup with 5.9 seconds remaining; Philadelphia’s Andre Iguodala missed a jumper as time expired, sending the game into overtime.

The extra period found Philadelphia exploding as they went on a 17-0 run, capped by a jumper by Iguodala with 27 seconds left in the period; ironically, of the five points scored by New York in overtime, all of them were scored by Harrington, with all of them scored within a 34-second span.

Four Sixers scored 20 or more points, led by Iguodala with 32 points, 11 rebounds, 7 assists while Lou Williams added 27 with 10 rebounds, 7 assists and a steal; Thaddeus Young chipped in 25 with 3 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals while Marreese Spreights came off the bench to score 20 along with 10 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 blocks. Elton Brand contributed 16 with 7 rebounds, an assist and 2 steals.

New York was led by Harrington’s game-high 42 from off the bench (a Knicks record for points scored by a reserve) along with 6 rebounds and 2 assists while Gallinari scored 30 (including eight 3-pointers) with 3 rebounds, 3 assists and a block; Larry Hughes, in a reserve role, chipped in 18 with 5 rebounds, 6 assists, 4 steals and a block.

Philadelphia (2-1) plays again on Tuesday when they host the Boston Celtics while New York (0-3) look to get into the win column when they host the New Orleans Hornets on Monday night.