The Knicks didn’t need much from Jalen Brunson because they had Miles McBride, Mitchell Robinson and Josh Hart.
Overcoming a Game 1 dud from their star point guard, the Knicks rode the unlikely heroes to topple the Sixers, 111-104, in front of a jacked up crowd Saturday at MSG.
The Knicks outscored the Sixers in the final 10 minutes by seven points, getting three timely treys from Hart, who avenged a disappointing opening three quarters with clutch moments and a final 22-point, 13-rebound stat line.
McBride added 21 points in 28 minutes.
Robinson took over the majority of starters minutes and grabbed seven offensive boards, helping stifle Joel Embiid down the stretch.
It didn’t matter that Brunson, outdueled by Tyrese Maxey, essentially disappeared under the defensive blanket of Kelly Oubre.
Or that Brunson’s college roommate, Donte DiVincenzo, was also riding the struggle bus.
The starting guards combined to score 30 points on just 11 for 36 shooting.
Brunson shot 8 for 26.
But the role players came through and the Knicks won a Game 1 at home for the first time since 2013 against the Celtics.
Earlier, it looked like the whole series was about to change dramatically.
Embiid, the reigning MVP who finished Saturday with 29 points, had been dominating his minutes but clearly got too comfortable with his surgically-repaired left knee.
With about 2 ½ minutes left in the half, the center threw an alley-oop to himself off the backboard, converted the dunk but landed awkwardly on his surgically-repaired knee.
He quickly clutched his knee and collapsed to the court.
The 30-year-old, who had his meniscus repaired during the season, left for the locker room.
The Knicks, who were up by five at that point, finished the half with an 11-2 run and led by 12.
But then Embiid returned after the break with his white tights bloodied around the left knee.
The Sixers quickly tied the game and took a three-point edge in the third quarter with a thread-the-needle dime from Embiid to Kelly Oubre in transition.
It set up the fourth-quarter heroics from the Knicks role players.
Before the injury, Embiid had gone from “questionable” to no friggin’ doubt.
The center was supposedly 50-50 to play on the injury report — a bit of a ruse (he was always going to give it a go) – and showed zero signs of limitations while pounding the paint.
He had 18 points in the opening half.
It was a more agile and confident Embiid than three days earlier against the Heat, when the center was hesitant to take it down low and was stifled until the fourth quarter.
Against the Knicks in the first half, Embiid didn’t think twice to go down low.
“Miami’s a hard team to play against,” Maxey explained after the first quarter in a TV interview, insinuating the Knicks were somehow easier to deal with.
