#2 Knicks vs #7 Sixers

[M2J]

As for the rest of this series. I think they figured them out. Should've won both games. Clearly need them both in Philly.

The last adjustment is to figure out how to ease Joel's role some. He's gotta be on the floor, so perhaps since they're relying so heavily on his size defensively... Let Reed help him so that Joel only needs to box out. On offense let him facilitate from the key and screen more for Maxey,even Oubre and Tobias.

I would say pace needs to be improved by Maxey and I do believe he's got the opportunity to get plenty of early offense that he thrives off of, and so does Tobi and Oubre.... Yet he's waiting for Joel.

[76ciology]

Game 1: we shot a lot better but we gave up historic number of ORebs

Game 2: we missed FTs and the Refs cooked us

[76ciology]

As for the rest of this series. I think they figured them out. Should've won both games. Clearly need them both in Philly.

The last adjustment is to figure out how to ease Joel's role some. He's gotta be on the floor, so perhaps since they're relying so heavily on his size defensively... Let Reed help him so that Joel only needs to box out. On offense let him facilitate from the key and screen more for Maxey,even Oubre and Tobias.

I would say pace needs to be improved by Maxey and I do believe he's got the opportunity to get plenty of early offense that he thrives off of, and so does Tobi and Oubre.... Yet he's waiting for Joel.

Yup. Agree on everything

[the_process]

As for the rest of this series. I think they figured them out. Should've won both games. Clearly need them both in Philly.

The last adjustment is to figure out how to ease Joel's role some. He's gotta be on the floor, so perhaps since they're relying so heavily on his size defensively... Let Reed help him so that Joel only needs to box out. On offense let him facilitate from the key and screen more for Maxey,even Oubre and Tobias.

I would say pace needs to be improved by Maxey and I do believe he's got the opportunity to get plenty of early offense that he thrives off of, and so does Tobi and Oubre.... Yet he's waiting for Joel.

Why do you think that is?

[M2J]

As for the rest of this series. I think they figured them out. Should've won both games. Clearly need them both in Philly.

The last adjustment is to figure out how to ease Joel's role some. He's gotta be on the floor, so perhaps since they're relying so heavily on his size defensively... Let Reed help him so that Joel only needs to box out. On offense let him facilitate from the key and screen more for Maxey,even Oubre and Tobias.

I would say pace needs to be improved by Maxey and I do believe he's got the opportunity to get plenty of early offense that he thrives off of, and so does Tobi and Oubre.... Yet he's waiting for Joel.

Why do you think that is?

I just don't think he's used to being the guy in close games. Especially not with Joel on the floor. They were used to doing that little plan of Joelle starting the first and 2nd quarter hot and maxey going off in the second and 4th quarter. He just needs to be the guy and make the right plays.

But, ultimately the old Philly curse of inbounds and rebounding took over in game 2. That game was won...

[Negrodamus]

As for the rest of this series. I think they figured them out. Should've won both games. Clearly need them both in Philly.

The last adjustment is to figure out how to ease Joel's role some. He's gotta be on the floor, so perhaps since they're relying so heavily on his size defensively... Let Reed help him so that Joel only needs to box out. On offense let him facilitate from the key and screen more for Maxey,even Oubre and Tobias.

I would say pace needs to be improved by Maxey and I do believe he's got the opportunity to get plenty of early offense that he thrives off of, and so does Tobi and Oubre.... Yet he's waiting for Joel.

The problem is this team has no resiliency in the playoffs. Maxey will have to bring us home this series if we have any chance of winning it.

[76ciology]

this officiating nightmare brought to you by FanDuel, the official betting partner of the league that employed Tim Donaghy!

[elchengue20]

It's true we are the better team. But they are the tougher team. Also our franchise player is playing hurt and is emotionally unreliable.

Like i sayed before the series, if we got "limping around" Embiid this is a 50/50 series. Need and should win both at home now.

[FlyingArrow]

As for the rest of this series. I think they figured them out. Should've won both games. Clearly need them both in Philly.

The last adjustment is to figure out how to ease Joel's role some. He's gotta be on the floor, so perhaps since they're relying so heavily on his size defensively... Let Reed help him so that Joel only needs to box out. On offense let him facilitate from the key and screen more for Maxey,even Oubre and Tobias.

I would say pace needs to be improved by Maxey and I do believe he's got the opportunity to get plenty of early offense that he thrives off of, and so does Tobi and Oubre.... Yet he's waiting for Joel.

The problem is this team has no resiliency in the playoffs. Maxey will have to bring us home this series if we have any chance of winning it.

He had multiple chances at the end of this game. Didn't corral the inbound pass. Didn't call timeout on the ground. Got blocked at the rim. Didn't get open for a 3 at the buzzer. There's plenty of blame to go around, but Maxey had multiple chances to be the hero in the waning seconds of the game, but he didn't.

I still feel good about this series. We lost two close games on the road, and I think we learned more about beating them than vice versa. I feel good - not great.

[the_process]

As for the rest of this series. I think they figured them out. Should've won both games. Clearly need them both in Philly.

The last adjustment is to figure out how to ease Joel's role some. He's gotta be on the floor, so perhaps since they're relying so heavily on his size defensively... Let Reed help him so that Joel only needs to box out. On offense let him facilitate from the key and screen more for Maxey,even Oubre and Tobias.

I would say pace needs to be improved by Maxey and I do believe he's got the opportunity to get plenty of early offense that he thrives off of, and so does Tobi and Oubre.... Yet he's waiting for Joel.

Why do you think that is?

I just don't think he's used to being the guy in close games. Especially not with Joel on the floor. They were used to doing that little plan of Joelle starting the first and 2nd quarter hot and maxey going off in the second and 4th quarter. He just needs to be the guy and make the right plays.

But, ultimately the old Philly curse of inbounds and rebounding took over in game 2. That game was won...

The other guys overly defer to Joel, whether purposely or subconsciously. It makes them do dumb things instead of just playing. This includes Maxey, although he is better at understanding the need to be selfish sometimes, which I'm guessing has a lot to do with the fact he gets plays run for him.

[M2J]

It's true we are the better team. But they are the tougher team. Also our franchise player is playing hurt and is emotionally unreliable.

Like i sayed before the series, if we got "limping around" Embiid this is a 50/50 series. Need and should win both at home now.

Gotta say, they really are missing Melton. He and Kelly are in prime years and athletic enough to match their guy's toughness and energy along with Tyrese. Lowry and Batum are great IMO, but 38 years old and could stand to be relied upon less.

Must say that after this series, Hield seems like a straight up bust of a trade.

[Mik317]

Brunson is due for an explosion sadly. And Biid is due for a stinker. Their others chuck 3s...much easier to still have solid games...ours do not. Lowry and Batum have been good for us...but a team relying on them for 30-40 minutes in 2024 is not doing anything. Tobias was solid on the boards and played some good defense down the stretch but we need more than 10 from him and sadly he can only get that via eating possessions...Oubre falling off a cliff offensively also stings. Just a badly built roster been the case all year and even if somehow PG decides to leave LA for **** Philly..while he is a better third option for sure; he also is a playoff dropper as of late (Pandemic P) and is yet another aging player with injury concerns. Team needs to get younger and more athletic....has been our death all year be it on the boards, getting back in transition, getting to loose balls...just a bunch of guys who are too slow in the worst ways...problem is that doesn't match up with Biid's timeline or probably the way he still thinks we should play.

So trade him right? I mean sure but the fact that even this diminished version of him carries us so hard says that isn't that promising either...especially we you owe picks. Plus I don;t think Morey works that way nor does he want to helm a rebuild and Harris isn't about tom pay another GM and probably coach and he still wants his shiny arena.

so we are still in that zone of hoping against logic for a fluke run that will never come ; blowing it up and probably never ending up even here for a while because even with all of the **** that comes with Joel Embiid...not many of him in drafts; idk...just feels kinda hopeless lol..everything that can go wrong has and continues to...idk what one can do at this stage lol.

[M2J]

I will say Nurse clearly tried to call timeout after the Brunson shot. But wasn't animated enough. He was animated when Maxey had the ball. Totally unacceptable. No foul calls either

[SixthStreet]

This is very Sixer-y, but our shooters actually can shoot at home and it seems that 2 games to go their way despite very outlier things going their way means this is still winnable. But they've banked two wins so 4 out of 5 will be hard. I'll watch but expectation wise have checked out.

[SixthStreet]

The theory of Tobias is obviously a far more effective player than Council or Martin but that's all it now. A theory. Maybe Nurse can try to not play The Contract 40 minutes?

[M2J]

Brunson is due for an explosion sadly. And Biid is due for a stinker. Their others chuck 3s...much easier to still have solid games...ours do not. Lowry and Batum have been good for us...but a team relying on them for 30-40 minutes in 2024 is not doing anything. Tobias was solid on the boards and played some good defense down the stretch but we need more than 10 from him and sadly he can only get that via eating possessions...Oubre falling off a cliff offensively also stings. Just a badly built roster been the case all year and even if somehow PG decides to leave LA for **** Philly..while he is a better third option for sure; he also is a playoff dropper as of late (Pandemic P) and is yet another aging player with injury concerns. Team needs to get younger and more athletic....has been our death all year be it on the boards, getting back in transition, getting to loose balls...just a bunch of guys who are too slow in the worst ways...problem is that doesn't match up with Biid's timeline or probably the way he still thinks we should play.

A Brunson explosion doesn't mean a nyk win... Ask Maxey. Defensively Philly has been fine. Offensive rebounds and rebounding in general has been dire for Philly when it counts. You can look at the stats, but Joel has 0 rebunds in the 2nd half, and it was a similar situation when he came back in game 1.

I think the offense needs to be more inclusive...I don't see any opportunities for Oubre as they aren't including him much in the dho game and he nor Tobi get any ball handling chances. Pushing the pace could even help Buddy

[SixthStreet]

I'm not all that upset over the officiating. We aren't the first team to be screwed and won't be the last. Hell, it might happen to the Knicks in this same series. Until we get offsite AI refs it'll still happen. If we are really the better team we should win the 3 at home and then have to find a way to get one there. We'll see.

[M2J]

I think Joel needs to wear his hard brace. Im sure it hurts his mobility, but if he's not doing wreckless ish, it would help his knee hold up in the 2nd half. I've dealt with an ACL years ago, and that brace sucks, it sweats. It's uncomfortable and it slips. But it keeps stuff stable.

[brannigan73]

Honestly if you told me Embiid and Maxey would score as many points as they have in the first two games I would guess we would be up 2-0 or at worst be 1-1. This supporting cast sucks. That's why I was furious when they basically didnt do anything at the trade deadline. Maybe there was nothing that could be done but they just dont have enough good players. Isaiah Hartenstein would be great on the Sixers by the way. He was good long before anyone really recognized it just an effective player whatever his limitations are he just never got consistent minutes until the Clippers a couple years ago. I used to play him whenever he was getting spot starts in Daily Fantasy pre Knicks.

[brannigan73]

Kyle looked really upset at the end of the game. He knows he blew it. My highschool's best player. RIP Cardinal Dougherty.