Game Thread: New York Knicks (2nd seed) vs. Philadelphia 76ers (7th seed) Saturday, April 20th 6 p.m.

[aggo]

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[BigShot Bojan]

With embiid hobbled they are vulnerable to the gortat screen

[Chanel Bomber]

I actually hope that Embiid can look like himself.

The prospect of having a competitive series against one of the greatest talents in the modern history of the NBA is really enticing.

I want to see us overcome a strong Embiid. I want to see great games. Just no injuries. But competitive basketball against one of the greats.

I hope he is 50% and misses games.

This is not about pride. It's about winning and advancing.

I want to see good basketball.

And if Joel's healthy, it will give us a solid indication of how good this team is, and otherwise what needs to be done in the offseason.

If they didn't want to face Embiid, they should've tanked the last game. But they didn't. So here we are.

[DaGawd]

I actually hope that Embiid can look like himself.

The prospect of having a competitive series against one of the greatest talents in the modern history of the NBA is really enticing.

I want to see us overcome a strong Embiid. I want to see great games. Just no injuries. But competitive basketball against one of the greats.

I hope he is 50% and misses games.

This is not about pride. It's about winning and advancing.

I want to see good basketball.

And if Joel's healthy, it will give us a solid indication of how good this team is, and otherwise what needs to be done in the offseason.

If they didn't want to face Embiid, they should've tanked the last game. But they didn't. So here we are.

maaaaaan fk all that self righteous ish…

[Capn'O]

Chanel is right. If we're not beating this Sixers squad we never had bigger aspirations than making the second round. We'll know where we stand after this series. Do we tweak things or go for broke?

[mpharris36]

We're not exactly the kind of team that you "get healthier" against either

yeah thats why all the "if" Embiid is healthy takes...he is clearly not and will not be.

Dude was keeled over for half the game. Yes he still put up some numbers. But he def is compromised. To the point we are going to involved him in a lot of screens and our bigs are going to make him bang and rebound because if he doesn't we will kill them on the glass.

And I know NDOS said its not ideal to have a big part of your offense offensive rebounds but its also what helped us dominate the cavs series. We can see how demoralizing dominating the glass can be.

And since Embiid is compromised we have the best player in the series.

We should win this.

This team isn't the Cavs though, our offensive rebounding is a strength but it can't be a significant portion of your offense. Last year we had RJ and Randle scoring against the Cavs in addition to the rebounding, even a diminished injured Randle is better than nothing. The thing with this series is the fundamental question of who is going to step up with Brunson? All I see is people saying to limit Embiid or that he's hurt and even if we hold him to 20ppg they still have another guy capable of getting 25ppg. Brunson could average 35 but who is gonna give him help in shot creation and scoring?

I would have rather played the Heat, their offense has been trash all season, where as the Sixers can score and their defense was top 10 despite Embiid missing 40+ game.

Miami has way more mental fortitude than Philly though. They were able to nearly beat the sixers on the road with Jimmy Butler playing through an MCL injury and Tyler Herro as the #1 option. Brunson is not going to miss the shots Herro is going to miss.

The Knicks have been operating as a top 10 offense with Brunson doing nearly all the playmaking and scoring. He either dominates 1 on 1 coverage or if the sixers trap him or box and 1 him and he draws multiple defenders he kicks finds the open man and its either Hart then attacking or Ihart in the roller spot hitting that floater or kicking it out to an open shooter.

Ihart was 8 for 9 from the field in the game he went up against Embiid this year...if Embiid can't move Ihart can take advantage of that as well.

This is the playoffs I don't necessarily think there are many "easy" matchups. But you seem to be making it sounds like we are the underdogs in the this series and I don't agree.

[Chanel Bomber]

I watched that Philly/Miami game from start to finish and Embiid doesn't look anywhere near full health and I doubt he gets healthier as the series goes on.

We're not exactly the kind of team that you "get healthier" against either

yeah thats why all the "if" Embiid is healthy takes...he is clearly not and will not be.

Dude was keeled over for half the game. Yes he still put up some numbers. But he def is compromised. To the point we are going to involved him in a lot of screens and our bigs are going to make him bang and rebound because if he doesn't we will kill them on the glass.

And I know NDOS said its not ideal to have a big part of your offense offensive rebounds but its also what helped us dominate the cavs series. We can see how demoralizing dominating the glass can be.

And since Embiid is compromised we have the best player in the series.

We should win this.

If Embiid is less than 90%, I think we are a pretty bad matchup for them. We're one of the few teams with the size and the depth at the 5 to really make him work. We also have a tall help defender in OG to double or disrupt the passing lanes. Obviously none of this would matter much if he were 100%, but he ain't.

If those 4 days of rest make a difference and put some pep in his step, we could be in for a long series. But if he looks anything like the past week, I think we're solid favorites entering the series.

Worst-case scenario this serves as a useful barometer for how good we really are. But I'm not overly worried.

[thebuzzardman]

Which thread has that long The Athletic article on Obi's offense/cutting/sacrificial cut?

[Chanel Bomber]

I hope he is 50% and misses games.

This is not about pride. It's about winning and advancing.

I want to see good basketball.

And if Joel's healthy, it will give us a solid indication of how good this team is, and otherwise what needs to be done in the offseason.

If they didn't want to face Embiid, they should've tanked the last game. But they didn't. So here we are.

maaaaaan fk all that self righteous ish…

I'm starting to feel bad for Joel always being hurt in the playoffs.

[mpharris36]

We're not exactly the kind of team that you "get healthier" against either

yeah thats why all the "if" Embiid is healthy takes...he is clearly not and will not be.

Dude was keeled over for half the game. Yes he still put up some numbers. But he def is compromised. To the point we are going to involved him in a lot of screens and our bigs are going to make him bang and rebound because if he doesn't we will kill them on the glass.

And I know NDOS said its not ideal to have a big part of your offense offensive rebounds but its also what helped us dominate the cavs series. We can see how demoralizing dominating the glass can be.

And since Embiid is compromised we have the best player in the series.

We should win this.

If Embiid is less than 90%, I think we are a pretty bad matchup for them. We're one of the few teams with the size and the depth at the 5 to really make him work. We also have a tall help defender in OG to double or disrupt the passing lanes. Obviously none of this would matter much if he were 100%, but he ain't.

If those 4 days of rest make a difference and put some pep in his step, we could be in for a long series. But if he looks anything like the past week, I think we're solid favorites entering the series.

they played yesterday and our series starts on Saturday so he only has 2 days of rest.

He had 4 days of rest in between his last regular season game and the play-in game and still looked like that.

Like you said we are one of the few teams that have multiple physical centers that can at least bang with him. I'm not saying they will shut him down no one can shot down embiid even a compromised Embiid. But if he looked the way he did in that play in he looked liek 50-60% of his self and wasn't moving...Brunson will certainly exploit that if he doesn't want to come out and guard. If they basically play a box in 1 and he plays down low we should destroy them in the middle of the court with ihart and hart making plays in the middle of the court finding out shooters in the corner since Embiid won't be able to recover.

I'm not saying its a cake walk but in terms of matchups I think we matchup well, especially with Embiid limited.

[Capn'O]

I just hope Mitch is doing a lot of cardio this week. He needs to be going at full tilt.

[NoDopeOnSundays]

yeah thats why all the "if" Embiid is healthy takes...he is clearly not and will not be.

Dude was keeled over for half the game. Yes he still put up some numbers. But he def is compromised. To the point we are going to involved him in a lot of screens and our bigs are going to make him bang and rebound because if he doesn't we will kill them on the glass.

And I know NDOS said its not ideal to have a big part of your offense offensive rebounds but its also what helped us dominate the cavs series. We can see how demoralizing dominating the glass can be.

And since Embiid is compromised we have the best player in the series.

We should win this.

This team isn't the Cavs though, our offensive rebounding is a strength but it can't be a significant portion of your offense. Last year we had RJ and Randle scoring against the Cavs in addition to the rebounding, even a diminished injured Randle is better than nothing. The thing with this series is the fundamental question of who is going to step up with Brunson? All I see is people saying to limit Embiid or that he's hurt and even if we hold him to 20ppg they still have another guy capable of getting 25ppg. Brunson could average 35 but who is gonna give him help in shot creation and scoring?

I would have rather played the Heat, their offense has been trash all season, where as the Sixers can score and their defense was top 10 despite Embiid missing 40+ game.

Miami has way more mental fortitude than Philly though. They were able to nearly beat the sixers on the road with Jimmy Butler playing through an MCL injury and Tyler Herro as the #1 option. Brunson is not going to miss the shots Herro is going to miss.

The Knicks have been operating as a top 10 offense with Brunson doing nearly all the playmaking and scoring. He either dominates 1 on 1 coverage or if the sixers trap him or box and 1 him and he draws multiple defenders he kicks finds the open man and its either Hart then attacking or Ihart in the roller spot hitting that floater or kicking it out to an open shooter.

Ihart was 8 for 9 from the field in the game he went up against Embiid this year...if Embiid can't move Ihart can take advantage of that as well.

This is the playoffs I don't necessarily think there are many "easy" matchups. But you seem to be making it sounds like we are the underdogs in the this series and I don't agree.

It's the play in man, the Bulls nearly beat the Heat in last year's play in, don't draw too much from these games, especially not when the Heat threw a zone at them. You didn't answer me before about will Tom use a zone, and you didn't answer who is going to step up as a secondary scorer. If we're going to throw zones at them to muck things up then I'd have a lot more confidence, but I know we're going to stay man to man. Also, Nurse is probably going to go to a box and 1 against us at times, something we haven't seen all year.


Vegas has us as the slight underdogs, we have 1 guy that can score reliably. Most breakdowns on here are basically centering around Embiid not being 100%, and not asking the question of what happens if he looks better? I'll say it one more time, the best way to impact Embiid in a series isn't being physical with him, it's making him close out on a stretch big that gets him into rotation, that is what drains his energy and when he starts settling on offense. It's why the Celtics have beaten him so much and why Horford guards him well, having to close out then rotate is saps him of energy.

[Knicks Byke]

Was reading the general board game thread and see this:

im scared.

LOL!

[WaltFrazier]

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And Embiid was healthier then, more mobile. Good stuff there.

A bit sad seeing the full team with Randle and OG playing in that January run.

[3eePointGoal]

Pop smoke, war... lets go!!! We outside. Knicks ready for all the smoke. "Check da score, we up on da board" tired of all the talk. Lets get it! I'm hyped lol

[3toheadmelo]

Paul Reed??

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[HerSports85]

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[F N 11]

Why does Philly have 2 full days off before pivotal game 4? It’s the only time there’s a 2 day gap. Always getting screwed one way or the other.

[omerome]

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To the Knicks bulletin board it goes!

[Capn'O]

I wonder what Paul Reed's feelings are about metal bats.