ESPN praises Joel Embiid scores 50 points to lead 76ers past Knicks 125-114 to cut deficit to 2-1

a final from Philadelphia and a controversial play here in the first quarter Joel embiid pulling down at Mitchell Robinson he was called for a flagrant one some calling for a flagrant two and an ejection he stayed in the game John with Dante dvan chenzo there to hit the game winner in game two well Jo embiid went out and dropped a 50 piece how about this Joel embiid said we're going to win this series right well you talk to talk you better walk to walk first player with 45 points in a playoff game versus the Knicks since Michael Jordan in 1996 when you're in the same sentence as Michael Jordan that means you had a really awesome game he had a really awesome game 50 points a playoff career high eight rebounds four assists he played 41 of the possible 48 minutes 18 points in the third and he finishes with 50 19 of 21 from the free throw line making free throws kids and the Philadelphia 76ers have made this a series now now down two games to one welcome in CBS Sports NBA analyst John Gonzalez John what got into Joe lmbi he's gotten better and better throughout this series right I mean they really needed him after game two I think he was pretty down about them not winning that one there was a lot of scrum a lot of physicality not just in game two but in this entire series and especially tonight as well but that's the kind of performance you needed from Joel and be he needed it for himself I mean AEM he's he's out there basically playing with one knee and one eye ball imagine what he could do if he had two of those things uh but the Sixers really needed him tonight so the question here is should he even been able to play the rest of the game after the first quarter called for a flagrant one he's pulling at Mitchell Robinson what did you see what did you react to that in that moment yeah I mean I think he deserved a flagrant I don't think it was it Rose to the level of a flagrant to I know a lot a lot of Nicks fans wanted him tossed for that but I do find it kind of ironic and Rich uh I I tweeted out that as the kettle on behalf of the kettle we welcome the pot to the party because this entire Series has been extremely physical the refs have let a lot of things go I'm personally glad that they let that one go as well but I didn't think that he should be tossed from that game and if the rols had been reversed I don't think that he should have been tossed and by the way Mitchell Robinson stayed in the game for a little bit and kept playing so yeah it ended up uh aggravating him and he had to go out of the game but hopefully he's going to be okay all right so you you look at this game and what MB did can he sustain this for more games in this series I mean you can't expect a guy to score 50 every night but can he do enough in a series like this against the Knicks he gets help from Tyrese Maxi and a little bit from Kelly UB Jr but I mean most this game is is embiid they're feeding him all night long can he sustain this and I'm not talking about 50 but can he sustain something around 30 rest of the series so that they can win the series so that they can back up his talk yeah it's going to come down all to health right I mean how much he can rest up in between now in Sunday when they have game four they're going to need every bit of it though because look as I mentioned he he was better in game two than he was in game one he was better tonight than he was in game two they need him to keep giving that maximum Supreme effort because he is the best player in this series and I think he showed that tonight he's shown it previously as well but he's also still dealing with a lot of injury issues right the knee not entirely healthy he's got something going on with his eye but for everybody who has said previously that L embiid needed to step up in the playoffs this was his greatest playoff performance at a time when he's not completely healthy against a rival that they haven't faced in the playoffs since 1989 a heated rivalry despite all that so yeah I I mean he's been absolutely unbelievable and yeah they want to climb back into the series and even it up they're going to need him to continue to be the game was one in the third quarter it was 4327 was the third quarter score the deficit there for New York to climb out of was just too great what did you see in that third quarter is the difference third you know going into the half I thought man you know this feels a little bit like game two where the Knicks have a little bit of momentum and the Knicks have been so amazing closing out games they did it in the first two games of the series against the Sixers and they did it in that final regular season game against the Bulls team they really had no business giving them a game but the Knicks prevailed in overtime and I thought oh man I wonder how the the Sixers are going to react to that well how they reacted was embiid and Maxi came out and said uhuh not tonight not game three not the first game in Philadelphia and they the two of them together especially inbi obviously but also Tyrese Maxi really put that team the Sixers and the series on their back and said we're not going to go down 03 we absolutely have to have this game and they came out like Gang Busters and you're right that was without a doubt the difference because the Knicks are Scrappy they're aggravating they frustrate you fourth quarter it looked like the Sixers were going to run away with it and instead here come the Knicks so the Sixers really needed that advantage that they patted in the in the score Colum in the third quarter so that they could close it out and pick up a game and a win here make me believe that the 76ers are going to win game four and even this up you're asking a Philadelphian who's been watching Philadelphia sports his entire life to make you believe you have come to the wrong person my friend I will only tell you that I think that the Sixers will compete it's been a really hardfought series these two teams are incredibly evenly matched I am not going to pull a Joel embiid or anybody else who guarantees victory for uh Philadelphia sports team but I do think that they'll give maximum maximum effort and then we'll see how it happens all right I I was hoping that I was hoping you were going to give me like you cut me a promo there like a WWE promo and give me something like you know wi win one for the Gipper or something like that uh Jo be great if they won one for anybody in Philadelphia that's true Joel and beid said we're going to win this series well they got one they need uh three more to win the series and they cut into the deficit as Joel embiid goes for 50 John Gonzalez breaking it down for us here on CBS Sports HQ a 50 piece for Joel embiid um that's the fourth most points in a playoff game in 76ers franchise history the other three by a guy named Allen Iverson I mean that's incredible Jo MB in the same sent as Michael Jordan Allen Iverson and now the sentence is is well the sentence would be it's going to be a sweep but now it's not going to be because now the 76ers make this a series down two games to one again game four Sunday back in Philadelphia coming up how joeel embiid got to 50 and should he have been still in the game we're going to show you that next here on CBS Sports HQ keeping Cavaliers and the magic just go on a route they win by 38 points 12183 as they bounce back big time in game three get some instant analysis welcome to CBS Sports HQ NBA analyst John Gonzalez John um what was different for the magic from games one and two this looked like a different team yeah they really did I mean what was different is they finally figured out how to get some offense going I mean they all season long AE have been a team that runs through their defense Jamal Mosley got an extension because of that he had a young team realized they were going to be offensively challenged really challenged them to play defense but it's the playoffs I checked on this it turns out to win a game you have to score more points than your opponent and as you mentioned they scored more through the first three quarters than they had in either of the first two previous games they went on a 20 to5 run to end the third quarter Keem and then Taliban Carol was awesome 3114 and5 most points in franchise history in a home playoff debut fron Vagner also contributed the big thing here though was Jaylen Suggs who's going to get a lot of love for all defense probably second team he hasn't been he's been sort of we'll call it intermittent offensively this season went for 24 points and they needed every one of those tonight uh and if they can get more offense from him going forward maybe the magic can climb back in this thing yeah uh Orlando scored 19 points off of 14 Cavalier turnovers uh put them into a lot of bad positions you saw the three-point uh percentage they hit eight threes in this game took 34 of them um we talked about this this series going in this was the matchup that the Cavaliers wanted it's almost like well be careful what you wish for because look what you got now you're only up 2-1 and I'm not saying it was going to be a sweep and this was going to be a quick series for Cleveland but if you were trying to to to set yourself to play this team um you might be wishing that you didn't have that scenario happen after you saw what happened in this game yeah if you're the Cavs though who else are you going to want right I mean the Cavs realized pretty quickly that they didn't want any part of the e spe e I've got eyes and ears everywhere [Music] [Music] you'll remember me when I'm done with you [Music] First Blood I've got eyes and ears everywhere an ally has been defeated crash your tower has been destroyed the king you have been defeated wellan an enemy has been defeated your team has destroyed a tower an ally has been defeated enemy ultimate [Music] a an ally has been defeated vad L the enemy onslaught be back enemy ultimate well an ally has 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