Without Joel Embiid, 76ers fade late against Knicks in Game 2

NEW YORK — As the Philadelphia 76ers disappeared into the night Wednesday, brick by brick, they left a vapor trail of the team that had pushed the mighty New York Knicks for most of Game 2. Those Sixers, without their star, had shoved an overnight juggernaut to the brink. Those Sixers found the answers they sought to cover up the enormous questions Joel Embiid left behind when he was ruled out hours earlier. Those Sixers hummed as the Knicks trained their coverages to silence Philadelphia’s other star out with an onslaught of defenders.But those Sixers petered out as the game got late. They ran low on gas and points deep into the fourth quarter. And when they left the court after a 108-102 loss that sent them into a 2-0 deficit in their second-round series, they remembered the crucial lesson of the playoffs. If a team is missing one star, it cannot do without waves of support for the one it has left.