Joel Embiid sets playoff high with 50 points to propel Sixers to Game 3 win over Knicks

Joel Embiid had already splashed four shots from beyond the arc. In the third quarter.

But then he baited New York Knicks center Isaiah Hartenstein into a his fifth foul with 7 minutes, 33 seconds left in Thursday’s final period, then sank all three foul shots to re-extend the 76ers’ Game 3 advantage.

Embiid set a new career playoff high with 50 points — including a 5-of-7 mark from downtown to anchor his team’s second-half outburst — to propel his team to a 125-114 victory at the Wells Fargo Center and cut the Knicks’ first-round series lead to 2-1. And that performance came despite being treated for a mild case of Bell’s palsy affecting the left side of his face, which he confirmed after an ESPN report surfaced postgame, while also continuing to work his way back from knee surgery that kept him out for eight weeks.

“It’s been tough, but I’m not a quitter,” Embiid said. “So got to keep fighting [and] do anything. But it’s unfortunate. That’s the way I look at it. But that’s not an excuse. Got to keep pushing. ...

“I just love playing the game. I just want to be on the floor as much as possible.”

Game 4 will be Sunday afternoon in Philly, before the series shifts back to Madison Square Garden for Tuesday’s Game 5.

» READ MORE: Sixers’ Tyrese Maxey is named the NBA’s Most Improved Player

Embiid, the NBA’s reigning MVP, went an efficient 13-of-19 from the floor and 19-of-21 from the free-throw line and added eight rebounds and four assists in Thursday’s Game 3. He joined two-time MVP Nikola Jokić as the only centers in NBA history to score at least 40 points and hit at least five three-pointers in a playoff game. And in crunch time, Embiid drew a foul on a drive with 4:27 to play and hit the free throws to put the Sixers up, 115-105, and tapped out a rebound on a missed Donte DiVincenzo three-pointer less than two minutes later.

But most impressive Thursday was his three-point flurry in the third quarter, as part of the Sixers’ blistering 9-of-12 mark from deep in that frame to take a 98-85 lead into the final period. Tyrese Maxey also sank two three-pointers in the third, while Kyle Lowry, Kelly Oubre Jr., and Cameron Payne each hit one.

That long-range barrage came after another game that began as a slugfest. The Sixers were called for two first-quarter flagrant fouls. Embiid, along with Knicks centers Hartenstein and Mitchell Robinson, picked up three fouls each before halftime. Embiid and DiVincenzo jawed at each other early in the game.

The basketball also was competitive out of the gate, as neither team led by more than five points in the first half before the Sixers’ surge after the break.

Maxey rebounded from a 3-of-10 shooting start to finish with 25 points and seven assists two nights after being named the NBA’s Most Improved Player for 2023-24.

And this time, the Sixers also got the needed complementary contributions to win a game in this series. Oubre had 15 points, seven rebounds, and three assists, hours after news broke he had been in a car crash in the early-morning hours after his team’s Game 2 loss in New York. Payne added 11 points and three assists in 16 minutes in his first legitimate action in this series.

Knicks All-Star guard Jalen Brunson, the former Villanova standout, finished with 39 points and 13 assists in his best performance so far in the series. Fellow former Wildcat Josh Hart added 20 points, six rebounds, and six assists.