This was hardly the Merry Kristaps the Knicks imagined.
Knicks center Enes Kanter was sensational with a 31-point, 22-rebound explosion, but Kristaps Porzingis didn’t have one of his monster games as the 76ers’ Joel Embiid and his flock of hot-shooting guards survived in a 105-98 Christmas upset in the nationally televised Garden matinee.
Porzingis racked up 22 points and five blocks but shot 6-of-19, grabbed seven rebounds and uncharacteristically missed five free throws.
The beastly Embiid outplayed the unicorn with 25 points on 8-of-17 shooting with 16 rebounds, three assists and three blocks. In his final illustrative moment, Porzingis had a pass intercepted by rookie Ben Simmons, who raced in for a fastbreak dunk with 1:06 left, putting the Sixers ahead by eight.