Sixers-Knicks Game 3 takeaways: Joel Embiid’s nasty side, Cam Payne’s contributions, and more

Even though the 76ers standout swears he did nothing wrong and was protecting himself, Joel Embiid’s nasty side was on full display.

Cam Payne showed why he needs more minutes. And Kelly Oubre Jr. was back to being an aggressive two-way player.

Those three things stood out for the 76ers in Thursday’s 125-114 game victory over the New York Knicks at the Wells Fargo Center.

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The Sixers looked like a soft team in the Games 1 and 2 of this series due to being pushed around. They shed that label on Thursday thanks in large part to Embiid’s living-on-the-edge play.

Kyle Lowry set the tempo by picking up a flagrant foul for slapping Donte DiVincenzo in the face with 6 minutes, 59 seconds left in the first quarter.

Embiid took over things from there.

The reigning MVP was called for an offensive foul 22 seconds later when he kneed Isaiah Hartenstein in the groin. Then, with 4:34 left in the quarter, Embiid picked up a flagrant foul for grabbing Mitchell Robinson’s legs on a layup attempt.

After falling to the court, Embiid reached up and pulled on Robinson to prevent him from scoring. The two players had to be separated. But his actions sent a message to the Knicks that they were in for a no-holds-barred battle.

But …

“It was unfortunate,” he said. “I just think the game being physical, you look at the first replay when I get bumped by [Hartenstein] and use a swim move to not get hit. And then I get an offensive foul. That get checked [out].

“I never seen you call an offensive foul after checking it on the monitor if you didn’t call it on the actual play. That was a first for me.”

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Embiid said he was trying to protect himself while making sure Robinson didn’t land on him on the flagrant foul.

“Obviously, we know the history that I have with [Jonathan] Kuminga landing on my knee. So I kind of had some flashbacks when he came down to it. It’s unfortunate, I didn’t mean to hurt anybody. In those situations, I got to protect myself because I’ve been in way too many situations where I’m always the recipient of bad, the bad end of it.”

Back on Jan. 30, Embiid tore the meniscus in his left knee after getting tangled with Kuminga, a Golden State Warriors forward, while going after a loose ball. Kuminga fell on his already sore left knee.

Embiid scored 18 of his game-high 50 points in the third quarter. The big fella also hit a season-high five three-pointers. But those two dirty plays in the first quarter also have a major impact on the game.

“It was unfortunate,” Embiid said. “But a physical game. They want to bring the physicality. We can get physical, too, and we are. So I mean, it goes both ways. I get bumped all over the place, and I just keep playing.

“I’m not going to take it. I got to keep my mind and make sure that I don’t get outside of myself. I just got to keep being myself and being aggressive and physical.”

However, the Knicks didn’t view the foul on Robinson the way Embiid explained it.

“It was dirty,” Donte DiVincenzo said. “It was dirty.”

Added Josh Hart: “I mean, we’re just happy Mitch didn’t get a serious injury on that. I’m all for tough fouls, tough playoff fouls. But that’s something that can put a guy out for a significant amount of time. So we’re lucky he didn’t get seriously [injured] during that time.”

Robinson eventually did leave the game with sprained right ankle after tangling with Embiid a second time.

Payne played just 2:34 in Game 1 and didn’t see action in Game 2. But his number was called upon to start the second quarter after Buddy Hield continued to struggle. And the reserve point guard made the most of it.

After assisting on Nico Batum’s three-pointer, Payne made his first three shot attempts and blocked a shot while scoring eight of his 11 points in the second quarter. He ended up making 4-of-7 shots — including 3-of-4 three-pointers — to go with three assists in 15:40 of game time.

“For all the young people out there, it’s definitely hard,” Payne said of keeping an energetic mindset while not playing. “But that’s just how the NBA is. You got to stay ready. Your opportunity can be called at any point of time. Like myself, I got called today and I stepped up to the plate and I was ready to play.

“Sometimes, you just gotta stay ready on your own because you may never know when it happens, so just stay locked in. So I was locked in and thank God, my shots fell today, so I get that opportunity again.”

Meanwhile, Hield didn’t see any action after failing to score on 0-for-2 shooting during a 3:57 stint in the first quarter. The shooting guard is shooting 1-for-7 — including 0-for-4 from three — in the postseason.

One can only assume that Payne will take over his minutes moving forward.

“He was awesome,” coach Nick Nurse said of Payne. “He certainly did a good job. Obviously, we were searching just a little bit for some kind of spark off the bench. Certainly had that in our thoughts to maybe go with Cam [Payne] first, and then still have [De’Anthony] Melt[on] in the back of our minds there a couple times too. But Cam got going so he kind of soaked up those minutes.”

After spending the first two games concentrating on locking down Jalen Brunson, Oubre was back to being a two-way player. And the Sixers will live with that even though Brunson finished with a team-high 39 points.

» READ MORE: Joel Embiid sets playoff high with 50 points to propel Sixers to Game 3 win over Knicks

That was because Oubre was back to cutting to the basket, crashing the boards and raining threes. He finished with 15 points on 6-for-8 shooting along with seven rebounds, three assists, and two steals in 38 minutes.