Knicks outrebound Sixers — again — and place Joel Embiid and Co. on brink of elimination

A sequence about four minutes into Sunday’s fourth quarter illustrates how the New York Knicks held on to their Game 4 lead over the 76ers:

Precious Achiuwa dunk attempt blocked by Joel Embiid. Josh Hart offensive rebound. Achiuwa missed layup. Achiuwa offensive rebound. OG Anunoby dunk.

That gave the Knicks a five-point advantage in an eventual 97-92 win in another wildly physical and competitive matchup of this first-round series. After the Sixers had largely cleaned up their issues on the glass in Games 2 and 3, rebounding drastically swung back in favor of the Knicks to propel them to a 3-1 lead and put the Sixers’ season on the brink. New York held a dominant 18-8 overall edge in that category in the final period, including seven offensive rebounds that yielded 11 second-chance points.

“Certainly became a big factor in the fourth,” Sixers coach Nick Nurse said.

Overall, New York outrebounded the Sixers, 52-42, on Sunday, and collected 15 offensive rebounds that led to 21 second-chance points. Haralabos Voulgaris, the former Dallas Mavericks director of quantitative research and development, also noted on X (formerly Twitter) that 17 of those points came off “live” offensive rebounds. And particularly concerning for the Sixers was that, during that decisive fourth quarter, the 6-foot-8 Achiuwa was playing center because starter Isaiah Hartenstein had picked up five fouls by the end of the third, and backup Mitchell Robinson was a late scratch due to an ankle injury.

“They got some extra possessions that cost us,” All-Star guard Tyrese Maxey said.

Nurse praised the energy and activity of Achiuwa (who had three offensive rebounds in the final frame) and Anunoby (who had two), players he previously coached when they were all with the Toronto Raptors. Embiid believes another contributor was All-Star point guard Jalen Brunson’s shot volume — he went 18-of-34 to finish with a Knicks playoff-record 47 points — because it “leaves a lot of open lanes to just attack the offensive glass.”

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“It almost seems like they just know who’s going to shoot it,” said Embiid, who finished with 10 rebounds in addition to his 27 points and six assists, “ … and then by the time you turn around, your man is already past you and then you’re left with a three-on-two.

“But I don’t even think that was an issue tonight. We got a lot of bad bounces. … Sometimes you can do as much as possible to try to box out. But if the ball doesn’t bounce your way, [you still won’t get the rebound].”

Still, through four games, the Knicks have a 61-36 advantage in offensive rebounds, and a 79-40 edge in second-chance points, according to StatMuse. That is not a surprise for a Knicks team that, during the regular season, led the NBA in offensive rebounds (12.7 per game) and ranked second in second-chance points (16.3 per game). The Sixers, meanwhile, ranked 23rd in defensive rebounds (31.9 per game), but 11th in second-chance points allowed (13.6 per game).

Nobody has embodied that relentless emphasis for the Knicks more than former Villanova standout Josh Hart, who on Sunday corralled 17 more rebounds (five on the offensive end) to prove a player can have a crucial impact on a game even while going 0-of-7 from the floor. He is widely considered the best rebounding guard in the NBA, prompting Sixers starting wing Kelly Oubre Jr. to say Hart is “wired on life” on Saturday and veteran forward Nico Batum to add, “if he’s got a secret, give it to me, please.”

Maxey said that one of Nurse’s pregame messages Sunday was that surely Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau had shown his team film from Game 1, when they had an overwhelming 55-33 rebounding advantage against the Sixers. Then the Sixers closed the gap to 46-44 in Game 2, but the two-rebound difference led to DiVincenzo’s dramatic go-ahead three-pointer and ended the Sixers’ final possession following a missed layup by Maxey.

After Game 3, however, an excited Maxey proclaimed “we won” that category after scanning the Sixers’ 36-32 advantage on the box score in real time during his postgame news conference. When Oubre was asked following Saturday’s practice to explain how his team had improved in that area, he coyly said, “can’t tell you that.”

“It’s just about hitting, being physical and doing the same thing we’ve been doing,” Oubre added, echoing Nurse and teammates who have emphasized that rebounding is an effort stat throughout the series.

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The Sixers, however, did not produce the same results Sunday, particularly during the decisive fourth quarter. When asked after the game about what makes the Knicks such a dangerous rebounding team, reserve guard De’Anthony Melton — a strong rebounder for his position, averaging 3.7 during his six-year career — said “they got seven people that crash.”

“How many people crashing?” Maxey asked while overhearing the conversation from his locker, implying that there are only five players per team allowed on the court at a given time.

“[Tom] Thibodeau be crashing,” Melton joked, referring to the Knicks coach.

It’s understandable why Melton and the Sixers would feel like the Knicks always have extra bodies to deploy toward the glass. The Knicks fittingly sealed Sunday’s win when, while the Sixers desperately tried to cut into a four-point deficit with less than 30 seconds to play, Achiuwa blocked Embiid’s layup attempt and the ball landed in Hart’s grasp.

Again.