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

[Knick4Real]

Read on Twitter

?s=46&t=W09F6FrMDfp5_y1gKYgF1g

Damn.... this is the type of player that our city falls in love with. Definition of a captain and leader. Thank you Jalen for putting this city of your back but showing it on your chest. You my dear friend are a true Knick.

[G_K_F]

I'm proud to be on the right side of history aka a Day 0 Brunson supporter and advocate.

I never thought he would reach these heights but I loved his efficiency and thought he had a lot of talent. Happy to see this guy reach these heights because he's just a good, humble dude and easy to root for.

To continue patting myself on the back I have also heavily advocated for the drafting of McBride, the trading for Josh Hart and been a day 1 Hartenstein supporter. All this from what some have called "one of the biggest Knicks haters"!

Lick my taint - it's playoff time. Lock in and let's get ready to rumble!

[NoDopeOnSundays]

embiid looked out of conditioning more than anything else. he was tired all game. i'm not sure it was the injury that was holding him back.

How do you see this going, we usually see series the same way despite being you being a terrible person, which means I may be a terrible person too.

[EnigmatiC]

embiid looked out of conditioning more than anything else. he was tired all game. i'm not sure it was the injury that was holding him back.

I don't know he looked pretty out of sorts out the gate which is when you think he'd have the most energy. It looked like he was grabbing his knee a few times too. But I guess we'll find out.

[3toheadmelo]

embiid looked out of conditioning more than anything else. he was tired all game. i'm not sure it was the injury that was holding him back.

How do you see this going, we usually see series the same way despite being you being a terrible person, which means I may be a terrible person too.

my bredren if sham is a terrible person then that makes you the best person on earth. never compare yourself to that nasty plague that has destroyed many young careers.

but i share the same concerns too lol

[RHODEY]

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?

You are not wrong. But ther'se a difference between that and wishing them to be at full strength, while we are not.

If we wanted an easier road to the ECF, we should've tanked the last game of the season.

We didn't, and that's fair enough.

But we put ourselves in a position to face Joel Embiid and the Sixers.

I'm not wishing for Joel's heath to keep deteriorating just to win a round because we didn't choose a more realist approach. I don't wish for great players to be unable to fully express their talent.

Whatever happens happens in that series. We'll have to accept that. Personally I'm fairly confident, and feel pretty zen about it.

We put ourselves in position to win as many games as possible and that put us in position to face the Sixers. Ofcourse whatever happens happens. And that goes both ways. If Embiid stays compromised or gets worse it beats our reality of missing Randle entirely.

So to me it's whatever because we are still at an equal or worse disadvantage.

[nykballa2k4]

You are not wrong. But ther'se a difference between that and wishing them to be at full strength, while we are not.

If we wanted an easier road to the ECF, we should've tanked the last game of the season.

We didn't, and that's fair enough.

But we put ourselves in a position to face Joel Embiid and the Sixers.

I'm not wishing for Joel's heath to keep deteriorating just to win a round because we didn't choose a more realist approach. I don't wish for great players to be unable to fully express their talent.

Whatever happens happens in that series. We'll have to accept that. Personally I'm fairly confident, and feel pretty zen about it.

We put ourselves in position to win as many games as possible and that put us in position to face the Sixers. Ofcourse whatever happens happens. And that goes both ways. If Embiid stays compromised or gets worse it beats our reality of missing Randle entirely.

So to me it's whatever because we are still at an equal or worse disadvantage.

Honestly, I like the matchup. We got bigs to body up Embiid. We got role players to match up with theirs. Brunson vs Maxey is the series. Who you got?

[RHODEY]

If we wanted an easier road to the ECF, we should've tanked the last game of the season.

We didn't, and that's fair enough.

But we put ourselves in a position to face Joel Embiid and the Sixers.

I'm not wishing for Joel's heath to keep deteriorating just to win a round because we didn't choose a more realist approach. I don't wish for great players to be unable to fully express their talent.

Whatever happens happens in that series. We'll have to accept that. Personally I'm fairly confident, and feel pretty zen about it.

We put ourselves in position to win as many games as possible and that put us in position to face the Sixers. Ofcourse whatever happens happens. And that goes both ways. If Embiid stays compromised or gets worse it beats our reality of missing Randle entirely.

So to me it's whatever because we are still at an equal or worse disadvantage.

Honestly, I like the matchup. We got bigs to body up Embiid. We got role players to match up with theirs. Brunson vs Maxey is the series. Who you got?

I have us winning in 6 , or maybe 5 if we are playing on all cylinders. I think we are playing our best ball right now and the Sixers (outside of Maxey) seem slow and nonathletic. We ran them off the floor in January and I think can do that again.

I admit though that could beat us if their xfactors show up. Somehow I worry a little about Buddy Hield and or Lowry going off...

[Iron Mantis]

As long as OG's elbow doesn't act up, we will win this series.

[The Vo Show]

Just realized we gotta deal with Kyle Lowry for another playoff series. Such a frustrating player to watch, does all the dirty little things to annoy opponents

[dakomish23]

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.

Healthy meaning he plays not he’s a 100%.

B/C even at this compromised level he still finished the final stretch at

30 / 9 / 5 on 49 /48/ 88

Don’t underestimate an opponent. We should have learned that lesson last year when ppl were desperate to play MIA instead of MIL

[drekwins]

Just realized we gotta deal with Kyle Lowry for another playoff series. Such a frustrating player to watch, does all the dirty little things to annoy opponents

Lowry is my fear for this series. I dont really care about anyone else. Lowry has the potential to be very annoying.

[thebuzzardman]

The full Brunson message:

https://www.theplayerstribune.com/posts/jalen-brunson-new-york-knicks-nba-basketball

[HarthorneWingo]

The full Brunson message:

https://www.theplayerstribune.com/posts/jalen-brunson-new-york-knicks-nba-basketball

My favorite part:

To Wingo at RealGM/forum/knicks: YOU make a difference for us. I just want to make that abundantly clear. Without you, the Knicks aren’t the Knicks. The unconditional love and support has been phenomenal. It’s an honor to play for New York and play in front of this organization, the city and you, Harthorne Wingo at RealGM/forum/knicks. I do not take it for granted one bit.

See you on Saturday.

—Jalen

Where's my fcking ticket?

[Knick4Real]

I'm proud to be on the right side of history aka a Day 0 Brunson supporter and advocate.

I never thought he would reach these heights but I loved his efficiency and thought he had a lot of talent. Happy to see this guy reach these heights because he's just a good, humble dude and easy to root for.

To continue patting myself on the back I have also heavily advocated for the drafting of McBride, the trading for Josh Hart and been a day 1 Hartenstein supporter. All this from what some have called "one of the biggest Knicks haters"!

Lick my taint - it's playoff time. Lock in and let's get ready to rumble!

[Clyde_Style]

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?

Yep. Can't abide by all of this Monday morning quarterbacking saying we coulda shoulda faced the Heat. All of this second guessing about where the chips fell goes so deeply against why I root for the Knicks. I didn't suffer decades of mismanagement to then backpedal on competitive challenges when we finally have a squad we can believe in.

Pretty soon guys are going to be lip syncing Marlon Brando moaning about how we coulda been a contender. F that chit. You want a championship, you beat whomever is in your path or you ain't jack chit. Enough with all of this pansy ass BS in here.

[Clyde_Style]

maaaaaan fk all that self righteous ish…

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

Watching him last night - he's got at least 20 pounds he doesn't need. Shaq's body could manage extra weight, at least in his younger years. Jokic too, for that matter. Embiid's not built like that.

Embiid looks like he'd be more comfortable wearing a tent dress than a basketball jersey

[Clyde_Style]

Last time we played Philly in the playoffs. 1989.

Left to right: Sidney Green, Johnny Newman, Eddie Lee Wilkins, Mark Jackson, Oakman

Damn I'm old

Freakin loved Johnny Newman. He looked like he weighed 100 pounds but still tried to yam on everyone

Newman would have games where he'd light it up

[spree8]

I’m just getting ready for Jalen to hunt Embiid on the switch. If Embiid even picks him up (prob won’t like we’ve seen before) I can’t wait to see Jalen break his other knee

[aggo]

I dontk now what nurse will do


but he's gonna do something drastic to ensure brunson gets taken out of the game


I can see him basically betting the entire series on forcing us to hit threes.