Knicks Reserves Lead Victory Over 76ers in Game 1: Deuce McBride Shines

NEW YORK (AP) — The familiar singers of “MVP! MVP!” for Jalen Brunson it was replaced by a very different sound inside Madison Square Garden.

“Deuuuuuce!”

Brunson guard Deuce McBride led a strong effort by New York’s reserves in a 111-104 victory over the Philadelphia 76 years old Saturday night in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference first-round series.

Brunson and Josh Hart each scored 22 points, but Brunson pointed the credit elsewhere when asked in his on-court interview what it took for the Knicks to pull off the win.

“Deuce McBride,” he said.

McBride finished with 21 points and singled out the 76ers with 13 in the second quarter, when Joel Embiid he was forced to leave after it appeared he injured a surgically repaired left knee on a dunk. Embiid came back and rallied the 76ers to a second-half lead, but Hart hit two big 3-pointers in the fourth quarter to help the Knicks pull it out.

Hart also had 13 rebounds for the No. 2-seeded Knicks, who had lost Game 1 of their last three home openers. They host Game 2 on Monday.

Embiid finished with 29 points, eight rebounds and six assists. Tyrese Maxey the 76ers led by 33 points.

“They protected home court,” 76ers guard Kyle Lowry said. “We have to go, watch the film, understand what we need to do, what we need to get better and go from there.

Bojan Bogdanovich he came off the bench for 13 points and Mitchell Robinsonformer Knicks starter at center who has been a reserve since returning from ankle surgery, had eight points and 12 rebounds while playing 30 minutes and leading the effort against Embiid.

The Knicks beat the 76ers with 37 points when McBride was in the game, 27 when Bogdanovic was in and 20 with Robinson.

“They’re the reason we won the game,” Hart said. “When your top dog isn’t shooting well, you need other guys to pick it up and that’s what they did.”

Embiid was limited to 39 games this season and missed nearly two months after undergoing meniscus surgery on Feb. 6. He still looks limited — certainly not the franchise’s top scorer of 70 points right before his injury — but he helped the 76ers past Miami in a play-in game to earn the No. 7 seed.

The 76ers listed Embiid as questionable to play and coach Nurse Nurse he said before the game that his big man would go through his warm-ups before the team decided if he would play.

Maybe that will be the plan again on Monday.

“I think he’s a real fighter and he’s fighting,” Nurse said. “I think he really wants to play. We’ll see how it turns out.” here tonight.”

Embiid did well when he was out there, but the Knicks had a much better balance on the record of their first team to win 50 games since they were 54-28 in 2012-13.

Brunson has been the biggest reason for that, a first-time All-Star who was fourth in the league in scoring with 28.7 points per game. He shot just 8 for 26, but had seven rebounds and seven assists.

And some of the scoring he usually provides was picked up by McBride, a 2021 second-round pick whose real name is Miles. He helped the Knicks outscore the 76ers 33-12 in the second quarter.

“I think their game plan was probably more focused on getting the ball out of Jalen’s hands,” McBride said. “If that’s the poison they pick, you’ve got to make them payment.”

Embiid went down with 2:49 left after his dunk cut it to 49-46. The Knicks scored the last nine points of the quarter and led 58-46 at the break.

But Embiid returned to start the second half and the 76ers quickly turned the game around. His 3-pointer capped a 23-11 surge out of the locker room and tied it at 69, and Philadelphia eventually went ahead 78-72 after outscoring the Knicks 32-14 until the third open one.

Bogdanovic, Robinson and McBride had the Knicks’ first three baskets of the fourth to move them back into the lead and Hart helped them hold on in the first playoff game between the teams since 1989.

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