Written by Andrew Unterberger at CSNPhilly.com
Start spreading the news. Up 17 in the first half, 13 in the fourth quarter and ten with only 2:29 to go, the Knicks still blew the game last night against the Philadelphia 76ers, who launched an exceedingly improbable last-minute comeback and captured the damn thing, on a folk-herodom-cementing baseline buzzer-beater from T.J. McConnell.
Here it is. @TJMcConnell‘s winner.
Buckle up. pic.twitter.com/ZVFmD0r8gV
— Philadelphia 76ers (@Sixers) January 12, 2017
Just, wow. Let’s run down all the reasons this sequence was absurd:
1. Derrick Rose essentially starts the Sixers’ fast break on his own by smacking Kristaps Porzingis’ airball right into the thick of the Sixers’ odd-man rush.
2. Though he’s leading a three-on-two break with less than five seconds to go, Gerald Henderson decides the prudent thing to do upon reaching the paint would be to trot the ball back out and run a play, passing to Ersan Ilyasova at the top of the key.
3. Despite being Ersan friggin’ Ilyasova, one of the quickest-triggered shooters in Sixers’ history, and despite being virtually wide open at the top of the key with three seconds to go, he spots a free-ish T.J. McConnell on the baseline and flings a pass his way.
4. Rather than launch the ball immediately, McConnell decides to make a quick drive to the basket — instantly shut down by Carmelo Anthony — and has to spin back for a fadeaway jumper instead. But of course, that’s the White Iverson’s shot, and he buries it. Game, Processors.
So where does this rank among the all-time Process moments? I’d say still definitely behind draft night 2013 and lottery night 2016, and probably behind the season-opening win against Miami in ’13 and the Stauskas trade as well — but it likely edges out last year’s almost-win against the Warriors for the final spot in the top five. It helps that Joel Embiid snuck past the 20-point mark in the last minutes, stretching his streak to seven games, and that a Sixers promotional deal for Embiid’s All-Star campaign last night inspired the following AP lede for their game story
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