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

[mpharris36]

will be a tough series. embiid on one knee is still better than most centers in the league and nick nurse is a brilliant coach. if we had randle i would say knicks in 5 or 6 but without him is going to be pretty difficult. there will be games where brunson is getting triple teamed and we will need someone to step it up and im not confident it will happen. hopefully donte doesn't pull a jr smith on us

I don't think we have to worry about Dante coming up small...he made his name with those nova runs. Had one of the best championship games I can remember.

Mitch is the one I'm worried about we will need him this series vs Embiid..he's got to find a way to give up 15-20 good minutes. Ihart is pretty consistent but Embiid is a load even on 1 leg.

Embiid on either bigs is a problem, because he's just going to hang out around the rim. If we had a stretch big I'd be a lot more confident against them, but what I've seen from Embiid in the playoffs is that he abuses bigs that can't shoot on both sides of the floor, he doesn't guard them when he's on defense and plays free safety while he reserves energy for offense. If we had someone that would make him run and rotate on defense I'd be more confident, but this is the type of matchup where everyone watches and is wondering why we're having so much trouble scoring and begs for a smaller faster lineup.

if he's not putting a body or guarding ihart or mitch we are going to murder them on the offensive glass. And Brunson doesn't need to get all the way to the basket to be effective...he has an elite mid range and float game.

[Context]

The season series is 3-1 Knicks...
Embidd looked terrible out there...I think we definitely win the first 2 and if we take game 3- I say we sweep them...IF we lose game three we will win in 5 games...

[NoDopeOnSundays]

I don't think we have to worry about Dante coming up small...he made his name with those nova runs. Had one of the best championship games I can remember.

Mitch is the one I'm worried about we will need him this series vs Embiid..he's got to find a way to give up 15-20 good minutes. Ihart is pretty consistent but Embiid is a load even on 1 leg.

Embiid on either bigs is a problem, because he's just going to hang out around the rim. If we had a stretch big I'd be a lot more confident against them, but what I've seen from Embiid in the playoffs is that he abuses bigs that can't shoot on both sides of the floor, he doesn't guard them when he's on defense and plays free safety while he reserves energy for offense. If we had someone that would make him run and rotate on defense I'd be more confident, but this is the type of matchup where everyone watches and is wondering why we're having so much trouble scoring and begs for a smaller faster lineup.

if he's not putting a body or guarding ihart or mitch we are going to murder them on the offensive glass. And Brunson doesn't need to get all the way to the basket to be effective...he has an elite mid range and float game.

Relying on offensive rebounding as a foundational point of your offense is not something I want, I'd rather we score efficiently and I don't know if that's going to happen, especially when I know Nurses history going against teams with 1 playmaker. I would not be shocked to see a box and 1 right out of the gate, they have more offensive options than us and they also play defense, so it's not like the Cavs last year. This team is more in line with the Heat that beat us in the ways they can score, and then the ways they can limit everyone outside of Brunson.

If Embiid is hurt we win, if he's 80% of his normal self, I really don't see it.

[Sixerscan]

Big fan of this board, so many good posters.

Obviously big fan of the nova guys.

**** you all.

[mpharris36]

And he still finished with 23pts 15rebs vs Bam, and most importantly we're not going to play a zone against them like Spo did to try and limit them. We're going to stick to man to man principles, and putting a 6'7" wing on him isn't a good idea, no matter how good you think OG is, especially since that would mean IHart or Mitch would have to guard a guy outside because they don't play any interior bigs with Embiid.

I'm not saying we do it a lot...I'm saying in a pinch or on switches we can matchup like that.

And he did put up 23 on 17 FG's and 10 FT's...so I will take that inefficiency from him.

It took Batum going ham and Jimmy Butler getting hurt for them to win that game. It won't be an easy series but neither would Miami have been. But I like our chances especially if Embiid is hobbled...Miami is one of the worst offensive rebounding teams in the NBA and grabbed 18 vs the sixers. I think we kill them on lose ball and rebounds.

The Heat played a zone tonight, we're not going to do that, we're going to leave IHart and Mitch on an island with him and hope he has tendinitis. Look at Embiid's numbers over the last 8 games before tonight, if we're going to run a zone against them great, if we're not then it's not going to be easy to slow him down.

I'm ok with our bigs defending embiid with potential help when he puts the ball on the floor from guys like Hart/OG who can force some turnovers.

Honestly let Embiid get his 30+ a night. Its the other guys we need to stop. If OG can defend Maxey well and we can stay connected to there shooters and keep making Embiid work on both ends I don't know how we will see a much different Embiid 2 days later from what we saw tonight. He is clearly less than 100% and I agree he still will be a problem. But you watched that game and were comfortable where Embiid health and conditioning are at?

[NoDopeOnSundays]

Big fan of this board, so many good posters.

Obviously big fan of the nova guys.

**** you all.

Watch on YouTube

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[mpharris36]

Embiid on either bigs is a problem, because he's just going to hang out around the rim. If we had a stretch big I'd be a lot more confident against them, but what I've seen from Embiid in the playoffs is that he abuses bigs that can't shoot on both sides of the floor, he doesn't guard them when he's on defense and plays free safety while he reserves energy for offense. If we had someone that would make him run and rotate on defense I'd be more confident, but this is the type of matchup where everyone watches and is wondering why we're having so much trouble scoring and begs for a smaller faster lineup.

if he's not putting a body or guarding ihart or mitch we are going to murder them on the offensive glass. And Brunson doesn't need to get all the way to the basket to be effective...he has an elite mid range and float game.

Relying on offensive rebounding as a foundational point of your offense is not something I want, I'd rather we score efficiently and I don't know if that's going to happen, especially when I know Nurses history going against teams with 1 playmaker. I would not be shocked to see a box and 1 right out of the gate, they have more offensive options than us and they also play defense, so it's not like the Cavs last year. This team is more in line with the Heat that beat us in the ways they can score, and then the ways they can limit everyone outside of Brunson.

If Embiid is hurt we win, if he's 80% of his normal self, I really don't see it.

you watched the sixers game right? How can you even ask if embiid is 80%? He looked like Orlando Ewing moving around out there with his hands on his knees after every stoppage. I don't see how he's magically going to heal in a couple days.

Also they run a box and one and Brunson gets rid of the ball early to Hart in the playmaker spot in the box...he either attacks hits a pass to our big or kicks it out to our elite corner 3 pt shooting.

[Jalen Bluntson]

Embiid on either bigs is a problem, because he's just going to hang out around the rim. If we had a stretch big I'd be a lot more confident against them, but what I've seen from Embiid in the playoffs is that he abuses bigs that can't shoot on both sides of the floor, he doesn't guard them when he's on defense and plays free safety while he reserves energy for offense. If we had someone that would make him run and rotate on defense I'd be more confident, but this is the type of matchup where everyone watches and is wondering why we're having so much trouble scoring and begs for a smaller faster lineup.

if he's not putting a body or guarding ihart or mitch we are going to murder them on the offensive glass. And Brunson doesn't need to get all the way to the basket to be effective...he has an elite mid range and float game.

Relying on offensive rebounding as a foundational point of your offense is not something I want, I'd rather we score efficiently and I don't know if that's going to happen, especially when I know Nurses history going against teams with 1 playmaker. I would not be shocked to see a box and 1 right out of the gate, they have more offensive options than us and they also play defense, so it's not like the Cavs last year. This team is more in line with the Heat that beat us in the ways they can score, and then the ways they can limit everyone outside of Brunson.

If Embiid is hurt we win, if he's 80% of his normal self, I really don't see it.

Knicks in 5 even with a healthy Embiid.

[NoDopeOnSundays]

I'm not saying we do it a lot...I'm saying in a pinch or on switches we can matchup like that.

And he did put up 23 on 17 FG's and 10 FT's...so I will take that inefficiency from him.

It took Batum going ham and Jimmy Butler getting hurt for them to win that game. It won't be an easy series but neither would Miami have been. But I like our chances especially if Embiid is hobbled...Miami is one of the worst offensive rebounding teams in the NBA and grabbed 18 vs the sixers. I think we kill them on lose ball and rebounds.

The Heat played a zone tonight, we're not going to do that, we're going to leave IHart and Mitch on an island with him and hope he has tendinitis. Look at Embiid's numbers over the last 8 games before tonight, if we're going to run a zone against them great, if we're not then it's not going to be easy to slow him down.

I'm ok with our bigs defending embiid with potential help when he puts the ball on the floor from guys like Hart/OG who can force some turnovers.

Honestly let Embiid get his 30+ a night. Its the other guys we need to stop. If OG can defend Maxey well and we can stay connected to there shooters and keep making Embiid work on both ends I don't know how we will see a much different Embiid 2 days later from what we saw tonight. He is clearly less than 100% and I agree he still will be a problem. But you watched that game and were comfortable where Embiid health and conditioning are at?

OG can't be everywhere at once, if he's on Maxey they're going to run screens to get him off, if OG is switched onto Embiid our center is on a shooter somewhere else on the court too.


I've seen Embiid in other games, his conditioning is trash, but he's been killing guys in man to man, he had 29 against Bam last week which is why they went to a zone tonight. Do you think Tom is going to run a zone? I would have preferred playing the Heat because OG can be on Butler the entire game essentially.

[aggo]

Embiid today didnt even look like he was 50%

he could not move at all.




76ers are lucky that Miami didnt have a downhill guard that could consistently exploit him on defense

[sol537]

Nurse will put Oubre and Batum on Brunson all game with constant help coming from all sides. The others better be ready to shoot.

We should also put Embiid on all pick and rolls and hand offs because he may not want to contest threes from DDV and Brunson off the curls…. And if he does run out, then we have iHart on the roll to find shooters

If Hartenstein or Mitch are in the game, Embiid has zero reason to venture outside. Miami could do it with Kevin Love. This appears to be a much better matchup for Joel defensively.

Good luck btw gents. Hope everyone stays healthy.

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brunson absolutely destroys drop coverage so if Embiid doesn't come out on the screen and you get a good screener like ihart or mitch and having oubre or batum trail brunson with him going full speed down hill with embiid not up he will murder that coverage. Knicks are going to make Embiid move and involved him in a ton of screens.

If he doesn't come out brunson has a float game and mid range that no one on the heat really have outside of Butler and he was hurt.

Yup.... and if they double/trap at the 3pt line, then Brunson can find the open guy or find anyone then re-curl for a down-hill hand off from our bigs which has worked really well.

I'm hoping Bogs can be hot from three all series like he was in that one game in Philly (6 for 6 at one point)... and we need lots of MccBride on Maxey to slow him down somewhat. Maxey usually eats DDV or Hart alive with his drives.

[Spot31]

We almost played the sixers in 2001 if it wasn't for Vinsanity, Alvin Williams & Chris Childs.

[DaGawd]

damn they saying jimmy might have a mcl injury.. celtics escape again

[epics2002]

If OG is on Embiid, who is on Maxey and who is guarding the rim? You'll see a layup line from Maxey if that's the case.

Deuce locked him up in at least 2 of the games doesn't anyone rememebr?

[mpharris36]

yeah duece had some effective games vs the sixers...he could be really useful to guard Maxey at times so OG can just be an absolute disruptor in help coverage vs Embiid.

[Knick4Real]

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Letsssssssssssssse Gettttttttttttt Thissssssssssss W Folkssssssssssssssssssss!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The way Embiid looked by the end of tonight's game, he might be like this by Sunday morning.

[Deeeez Knicks]

Knicks played Embiid pretty well so far this season. If he is not even healthy it’s a big edge.

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[aggo]

the one thing I am very certain of because we have the personnel to run it:


we will force Embiid to play both sides of the court. Heat cant/couldnt because spo calls every play from the sideline and outside of herro didnt have a pnr guard.



side pnr

side pnr empty

horns

spain pnr


all the **** types to force Embiid to move until he quits like he did in q3 of the heat game today.

[aggo]

Knicks played Embiid pretty well so far this season. If he is not even healthy it’s a big edge.

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look at how much more space we gave Embiid at the point of the catch


vs


what the heat did to start the game




if Embiid wants to shoot jumpers, let him. otherwise he isn't gonna get fouls because he gets crowded on

[spree8]

damn they saying jimmy might have a mcl injury.. celtics escape again

Yup… imagine if Miami won instead. Would’ve been a cake walk into Rd 2 for us. Celtics bs luck