76ers guard Tyrese Maxey was discouraged by the number of New York Knicks fans in attendance for Sunday’s Game 4 at Xfinity Mobile Arena in Philadelphia.
“It absolutely sucks, if I’m being honest. It just sucks,” Maxey told reporters, according to SNY. “That’s really all I can say about it. It’s hard. It’s definitely difficult. It’s only one way to put a stop to it, and we have to go out there and win these games.”
Maxey and the Sixers suffered a lopsided 144-114 defeat to complete a four-game sweep at the hands of the Knicks. However, the two-time All-Star insists that his side played better on the road at Madison Square Garden than at home.
“Just being completely honest, we were better when we played them in the Garden this entire season,” Maxey added. “I know we lost Games 2 and 1, but Game 2 was better. The regular season was better. I was telling them, it felt louder here for them than it did in the Garden.”
Maxey’s teammate Joel Embiid urged the Sixers faithful not to sell their playoff tickets to Knicks fans before the series, saying it “felt like this was MSG East” the last time the two teams faced each other in the postseason in 2024.
Maxey does concede that better performances from the Sixers will have drowned out the noise from Knicks fans, saying, “Winning these games, that’s gonna make our fans louder than theirs or whatever.”
He continued, “I don’t know how to keep them out. I don’t know the logistics of it, but it does suck. I can’t even lie. It definitely does suck.”
New York guard Josh Hart, who played college basketball in Philadelphia at Villanova, also commented on the overwhelming support at Game 4. “I used to think Philly was a sports town, I don’t know if it is anymore,” Hart told reporters, per SNY.
“It’s a really cool feeling. It’s something that I will always think is one of the coolest things in the world, when you hear Knicks fans in opposing arenas,” Knicks star Jalen Brunson said after the game, according to SNY.
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