PHILADELPHIA _ It took a lot overshadow the first NBA three-pointer by Ben Simmons and a potential dust-up involving Joel Embiid, but a madcap 76ers comeback led by timely shooting by Mike Scott took center stage during a wild night in South Philly.
Trailing by 17 points with less than four minutes left in the third quarter, the Sixers roared back for a 109-104 win over the New York Knicks at a charged-up Wells Fargo Center.
Embiid had 23 points and 12 rebounds. Simmons added 18 points and a season-high 13 assists. Scott finished with 12 points off the bench, hitting of 4 of 6 three-pointers.
The Knicks trailed, 96-95, with two minutes left, after Julius Randle hit one of two free throws.
The Sixers then went on a 6-0 run, getting threes from Scott and Embiid, to make it 102-95 with 51.2 seconds left.
The Knicks cut the lead to 107-104 on a Marcus Morris three with 2.1 seconds remaining, but Embiid hit two free throws for the final scoring.
The Sixers are 9-5 and have won two in a row. They are 5-0 at home. New York fell to 4-11.
When Knicks rookie RJ Barrett made a follow dunk, it increased New York's lead to 77-60 with 4:15 left in the third quarter, and the Sixers looked to be in big trouble.
More than a few boos could be heard, but then the Sixers flipped the switch, began pressuring the Knicks, causing turnovers while hitting big threes.
The Sixers ended the quarter on a 14-2 run and trailed just 79-74 entering the fourth quarter.
In that run, the Sixers got threes from Scott, Al Horford, and James Ennis.
The Sixers continued the momentum with a 35-25 fourth quarter.
Fireworks almost erupted in the first half, after Tobias Harris made a turnaround 20-footer to cut the Knicks lead to 49-47 with 1:43 left.
On the play, the Morris, boxed out Embiid and threw him to the ground. Tempers flared, but order was quickly restored without incident.
A double technical foul was assessed against Morris and Embiid. Morris, a Philadelphia native who wasn't very popular in his home town at that moment, was also assessed a Flagrant One foul.
Simmons hit his three-pointer with 8:20 left in the first quarter. It was his first three-point attempt of the season. Before that, he was 0 for 17 in the regular season and 0 for 1 in the playoffs.
Simmons took a bounce pass from Furkan Korkmaz and from the right corner calmly sank the 24-footer over Mitchell Robinson, who offered little resistance.
The sellout crowd cheered loudly.
Korkmaz was starting in place of Josh Richardson, who was out with right hip flexor tightness.
