It was one of the biggest questions before the series.
Who on the Knicks would get the job of guarding the explosive and powerful Tyrese Maxey?
Josh Hart spent the end of the first round guarding the Hawks’ most dangerous guard, CJ McCollum. OG Anunoby often guards the opponent’s best scorer, no matter what the situation. But Maxey’s quickness is no match for Hart or Anunoby.
So Mikhal Bridges, back as a point guard, got the assignment. When he left the game, Miles McBride compared him to Maxey.
And both passed the test.
“That was good,” Josh Hart said after Tuesday’s practice. “Both of these guys are obviously blessed enough in the sport to be able to keep up with them, use their bodies, use their height to their advantage.” Maxey is clearly a liability to himself, being able to fit into the transition. It’s hard to guard those handoffs and balls so they’ve done an amazing job for him and he should keep it up.
Maxey finished with just 13 points on 3-for-9 shooting from the field while missing all of his three-pointers. None of those three field goals came against Bridges or McBride. He committed four turnovers.
It was his lowest price since Jan. 26. In the first round against the Celtics, he scored 26.9 points on 46.4 percent shooting from the field and 41.8 percent from three-point range.
“I feel like the whole team is locked in, honestly,” McBride said Tuesday. “Mikal started well with him and then I came in, but there were times when other guys were compared to him, and all our antennas just watched him as a team.”
It was clear that the Knicks emphasized slowing down Maxey, often with a second defender ready to help Bridges or McBride. They were physical with him – especially when the 76ers tried to get him to take the pick-roll. The only concern was that he was able to get to the free throw line more than the Knicks wanted — he took seven free-throws, and made them all.
His usage was also confusing – there were long stretches where he was unsure. He didn’t score until midway through the second quarter. His nine shots were the fewest he’s taken so far in the postseason — and the fewest in any game since Feb. 3.
Charles Wenzelberg / New York Post
The Knicks expect that to change.
“We know Maxey is going to be aggressive,” coach Mike Brown said Tuesday. “So we have to be more careful than what we were playing in our last game.”
They also admit that they may have benefited from some luck.
“He missed shots,” Brown said. “We know his aggressiveness is going to be at a high level in Game 2. Like we told all our guys, five guys guard the basketball, but on offense, we have to be very good. The big thing about guarding Maxey on offense is, he moves very well and he can score at every level. He puts a lot of effort into every single thing because if he gives it up, you better bet he’s going to get it back at some point in that thing, if not right away.”
The 76ers will have countermoves to try in Game 2 to keep Massey going. Because if he suffers like in Game 1, there is little chance that he will get them.
But for Bridges and McBride, the Knicks may have answers.
