Mitchell Robinson sparks Knicks’ rally in win vs. 76ers

PHILADELPHIA — The New York Knicks had dropped nine of 11 games before obliterating their crosstown rivals, the Brooklyn Nets, at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday night.

But beating the struggling Nets is one thing. Visiting South Philadelphia and defeating a potential playoff opponent in the Philadelphia 76ers is another. And while it was anything but pretty — including a truly chaotic final minute that saw reviews by both teams successfully overturn calls — New York managed to emerge with a 112-109 victory Saturday to claim a second straight win thanks to an overpowering defensive effort in the second half.

“We locked in defensively,” said Knicks center Mitchell Robinson, who was in the middle of everything positive that happened for New York after intermission. “We came back into halftime to see what we were lacking, especially myself. Defensively in the first half, I ain’t do too great.

“But definitely in the second half came with more energy.”

That energy shift coincided with Karl-Anthony Towns exiting the game with foul trouble a couple of minutes into the third quarter and Robinson checking in. Towns, who was questionable before the game with back spasms and repeatedly seemed to be bothered by them when he played, had 10 points and 6 rebounds in 16 minutes before fouling out. He played just four minutes in the second half after committing three fouls.

“Obviously, we want him in the game, but it’s a next man up mentality,” said Jalen Brunson, who had 31 points and 6 assists in 38 minutes. “We got to find a way to go out there and execute our game plan to the best of our abilities and try and extend our lead or get the lead. Continue to play with pace, play good defense, play physical and just get back to what we do.”

Robinson helped the Knicks do just that. After trailing 68-65 early in the third, they closed on a 25-9 run and held Embiid — who finished with 38 points, 11 rebounds and 5 assists in 36 minutes — to zero points in the quarter.

New York took a 13-point lead into the fourth, and while Philadelphia made it interesting in the closing moments, it was a lead that New York didn’t relinquish.

“When you’re a team that’s struggling to put together wins, you got to do the little things,” said Knicks forward Josh Hart, who had 10 points, 13 rebounds and 7 assists. “You got to have good attention to detail, good focus, good energy, and you got to get all those 50-50 balls. So I feel like we did that, came out the right way in the second half and then we didn’t close out the fourth how we wanted, but we got the win.”

All of the hustle stats were tilted in New York’s direction. The Knicks had 19 rebounds to Philadelphia’s 6 and outscored the 76ers 26-4 in second-chance points. That helped the Knicks get an extra 16 shots in the game.

But after an incredible end-to-end sequence from OG Anunoby, who had a tip dunk off a miss, a corner 3-pointer and set up a Landry Shamet trey on three straight possessions to put New York up by 8 with 42.9 seconds to go, a series of miscues gave Philadelphia possession with a chance to tie the score with 9.9 seconds to go.

On the ensuing inbounds pass, however, 76ers star Tyrese Maxey believed he was fouled by Shamet, and he flung up a 40-footer trying to make it a 3-shot foul — only for referee Kevin Cutler to have not called anything, leading to Maxey shooting an air ball and giving possession back to New York.

“I should’ve taken one more dribble and shot it,” said Maxey, who had 22 points and 6 assists in 38 minutes.

Then, Brunson missed two free throws, giving Philadelphia another chance to tie the score. Although it appeared Brunson fouled Embiid as he brought the ball up the court and made a bad pass, no foul was called as the clock expired.

A pool report with crew chief Tony Brothers after the game gave the same answer on both calls: “During the game, we did not observe any illegal contact on the play.”

But for the Knicks, it was another step in the right direction, as the team begins to right itself after going 2-9 in the 11 games before Wednesday’s win over Brooklyn.

“Yeah, it is good, but also it’s January,” Hart said. “You can’t get too high or too low. I think that’s the biggest thing. I think that’s where y’all can write whatever y’all want to write. Three games ago we were turning into a lottery team, and now you guys are like, ‘Oh, they’re battling the East.’ So that’s for y’all to do. Us, we’re trying to stay level headed and not get too high or too low.”