The Sixers will gladly take their ‘bad win’ against the Knicks and learn from it

The Sixers have lost a few games to lesser teams, but they pulled out a big win over the Knicks this time. "If it’s bad wins or bad losses, we learn a lot," Danny Green said.

Julius Randle and the New York Knicks gave the Sixers all they could handle Sunday night.Read moreElsa / AP

by Keith Pompey

Published Mar. 22, 2021, 2:30 p.m. ET

SAN FRANCISCO — Danny Green sees every play, every game as a learning lesson for the 76ers, win or lose.

“Obviously, you learn more from losses than you do wins,” the small forward said. “We had some bad losses.”

The Sixers (30-13) have lost to teams they should not have. However, Sunday’s 101-100 overtime victory against the New York Knicks was an ugly win. It’s one that just might benefit them during the remaining five contests of their six-game road trip.

“I’ll take some bad [wins], too,” Green said. “But we learned. At the end of the game, we got to execute. ... We got to know what’s on the clock. We have to know when to foul, when we have a foul to give.

“So even in wins, if it’s bad wins or bad losses, we learn a lot. So we take a lot from this.”

They had a foul to give after Tobias Harris missed a pair of foul shots with his team leading, 88-85, with 13.2 seconds left in regulation. Harris, however, didn’t foul Julius Randle while having the Knicks forward pinned in the corner. As a result, Randle made a 23-foot three-pointer to knot the score with 6.4 seconds left.

The Sixers had a chance to redeem themselves in regulation. But Ben Simmons failed to connect on a pass to Harris with 2.8 seconds left. Randle made the steal, drove up court and missed a 27-foot three-point attempt right before the buzzer.

The Sixers also committed three turnovers in the final 1:11 of regulation.

No one can argue that they weren’t fortunate to escape with their one-point overtime victory. They were also fortunate to have Green, who saved them. He finished with a game-high three blocks and tied for a game-high five steals. Green also scored all 11 of his points during the fourth quarter and overtime session. Six of his points came on 2-for-3 shooting from three in overtime.

Harris eventually redeemed himself by making the winning foul shots with 5.3 seconds left in overtime.

“This is how mental toughness starts and continues,” Green said of battling through adversity. “That’s what you are going to need in a playoff run. If you want to be a championship team, you have to be mentally tough. In the game, regardless of what’s going on, you have to stay within the game.”

They’ll have to continue to do it without MVP candidate Joel Embiid for the immediate future. The four-time All-Star center will miss another week or two with a left knee bone bruise.

The Sixers have won five of the last six games he’s missed.

Now they’re embarking on the West Coast portion of the road trip. They’ll face the Golden State Warriors at the Chase Center on Tuesday. Then the Sixers will head to Los Angeles for games at the Staples Center against the Lakers (Thursday) and Clippers (Saturday). Their next stop will be Denver to face the Nuggets at the Pepsi Center on March 30 before heading to the Midwest to meet the Cleveland Cavaliers at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse on April 1.

It would be understandable if trying to win without Embiid isn’t the only thing on some of the players’ minds. The NBA trade deadline is 3 p.m. Thursday. The Sixers are prepared to make a move only if something comes along that helps in their quest to win a title.

“I think our focus, our control is winning games, playing basketball,” Green said. “Whatever happens, happens. Our focus is don’t even think about that. The trade-deadline trades, I’ve learned as a vet only to worry about the things that I can control.”