‘F*** Embiid’: Savage chant as powerhouse, ex-champs knocked OUT of NBA playoffs to continue grim runs

NBA Eastern Conference heavyweights Philadelphia and Milwaukee have both been knocked out of the playoffs in the first round in a stunning day of hoops.

In the later game, the New York Knicks downed the 76ers in Philadelphia behind 41 points and 12 assists from Jalen Brunson to win the series 4-2 and advance to the second round.

New York looked all but home late in this one after Brunson’s jumper extended the Knicks’ lead to 107-99 – to the sound of some cheers from visiting Knicks fans taking over Wells Fargo Centre – with 3:27 left in the fourth quarter.

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But Philly pushed hard down the stretch in an exciting final few minutes including a Kelly Oubre Jr. three-pointer and Tyrese Maxey layup bringing it back to a three-point game with under two mins remaining.

Inside the last minute, Brunson got a friendly bounce on a pull up jumper he was fouled on to suck the life out of the building of Sixers fans riding their team home, but he missed the free throw to keep New York’s lead at 111-108.

Maxey responded with his own bucket and foul, making the free throw to draw scores level at 111-111 with 35 seconds on the clock to set up a tense finish.

The Sixers double-teamed the red-hot Brunson on the next play as he kicked out to a wide open Josh Hart, who buried a triple to push the Knicks’ lead out to 114-111 with 26 seconds to play.

After getting Philly back within one after a driving finger role, Joel Embiid fouled out of the game, however Hart and Brunson made four-straight free throws down the stretch to maintain New York’s buffer.

The Sixers had one last chance to win the game on a final three-point heave from Buddy Hield, but it never looked like going in to seal a big win for the visitors.

Visiting New York fans let their thoughts be known of Embiid post-match, chanting ‘F*** Embiid’ both inside and outside Wells Fargo Centre in brutal scenes.

It marks the first time since the 2020/21 season the Sixers haven’t made it past the first round, while they’ve never made it to the conference finals in the Embiid era.

New York meanwhile sets up an Eastern Conference semi-finals date with Indiana, who powered into the second round of the NBA playoffs after thrashing the depleted Milwaukee Bucks 120-98 to win their Eastern Conference series 4-2.

Unable to close out the Bucks on Tuesday, the Pacers got their uptempo offense flowing again, relentlessly pulling away after trailing by seven in the opening minutes.

All-Star guard Tyrese Haliburton delivered a double-double of 17 points and 10 assists, but it was reserve guard Obi Toppin leading the Pacers scoring with a career playoff high 21 points.

T.J. McConnell added 20 points off the bench along with nine assists and four steals as the Pacers reserves contributed a whopping 50 points.

“I’m so proud of the perseverance,” Haliburton said of Toppin and McConnell. “Obviously neither of them had a really good game last game — none of us did. We just responded the right way.”

Indiana led by 12 at halftime, and after the Bucks cut the deficit to seven on a Brook Lopez layup with 1:05 left in the third the Pacers authored an 11-0 scoring run and romped away in the final period.

Eight-time All-Star Damian Lillard returned from a two-game injury absence and led the Bucks with 28 points.

Lopez and Bobby Portis scored 20 points apiece, but with two-time NBA Most Valuable Player Giannis Antetokounmpo still sidelined by the calf injury suffered late in the regular season the Bucks couldn’t find an answer.

The Bucks, who won the title in 2021, lost in the first round for the second straight season after falling to Miami last year.

The Pacers hadn’t won a playoff series since 2014, when they reached the Eastern Conference finals.

ALL RESULTS

BUCKS 98 PACERS 120

KNICKS 118 76ERS 115