76ers Escape MSG With Six-Point Win as Scoring Drought Sinks the Over

The 76ers walked out of Madison Square Garden with a 106-100 victory, but if you rode DarkHorse's over 231.5, you're licking wounds this morning. The final tally of 206 points wasn't even close, missing by a staggering 25.5 points in what turned into a defensive slugfest nobody saw coming.

So much for that elite offensive firepower and track meet tempo. Philadelphia's vaunted trio of 28+ PPG scorers apparently left their shooting touch in the locker room, and the Knicks' 117.8 offensive efficiency looked more like 77.8 for stretches. Both teams combined to shoot themselves out of the building in a game that felt like molasses compared to Philly's supposed 102.4 pace advantage. Fresh legs? More like fresh bricks.

The 76ers did just enough down the stretch to pull away, but this was ugly basketball—the kind of rock fight that makes you wonder if preseason conditioning is overrated. New York hung around all night but couldn't find enough offense when it mattered, trailing by six at the final buzzer.

Bottom line: Philadelphia gets the W, but that over never had a pulse. Sometimes the numbers lie, and tonight they lied spectacularly.