2024 NBA Playoffs - East 1st Round: #2 New York Knicks vs. #7 Philadelphia 76ers (NYK WINS 4-2)

[76ciology]

Reasons why the Knicks think they can beat us:
- They have defeated us three times by significant margins (though we managed to win once without Jojo and Maxey).
- Embiid is not at 100% (I believe this is more related to conditioning).
- Knicks has 2 starting caliber to borderline star bigs
- They have a win percentage of .90 or higher with OG and Brunson.

Reasons why the Sixers think they can beat the Knicks:
- Embiid is significantly better than Brunson.
- There's a small gap between Maxey and Brunson.
- We seem to have the right tools that has been proven effective to slow down Brunson.
- The Sixers have been the clear second-best team when Embiid is healthy.

My thoughts:
I believe we have a 60+% chance of beating the Knicks. I'm quite confident in our ability to defeat them, although not overly so. And this changes as the series goes.

This Knicks squad reminds me of the 2021 Hawks, and the toughness of the 2018 Celtics, but they are mostly comparable in talent to our first-round opponents rather than our second-round opponents.

I also have concerns about Embiid's conditioning, especially for Game 1. Additionally, I'm unsure about Tobi's situation, and I don't expect Batum to maintain a 5-6 three-pointers per game average.

Nevertheless, Vegas seems to slightly favor us in the series, which promises to be an exciting matchup.

Regardless of the outcome, as long as we play with intensity and intelligence and Embiid remains healthy, I'll accept the result.

If we can’t beat the Knicks, then we most likely won’t be able to beat the Bucks and the Celtics.

good post

Thanks and GL!

I think i gave some wrong info with the vegas odds there CGF posted about Knicks being given the slight edge by Vegas today.

[Hussien Fatal]

…he’s not a top 20 player. He’s closer to top 35 than top 20.

And there’s a decent gap between Brunson and Maxey right now.

If you believe the potential is there, that’s a different conversation. But as of right now, he’s not there.

Ok I would love to see you attempt to name 35 players better than Maxey currently.

On top of the 20 I already named…

Zion
Ingram
Jaylen Brown
Kyrie
Jamal Murray
Ja Morant

It starts getting debatable around here…

Dame
KAT
Paolo
Randle
Trae Young
Scottie Barnes
Siakam
Lauri

You could put Maxey anywhere in this range. Could take any of these players over him. You could pick him over them if you choose. But again, top 35 range.

No definitely not, a lot of these players you named didn’t have as good of a season as Tyrese did. Isn’t that why you rate Brunson so high is because he had a great season? You can’t take players over Tyrese that didn’t have a better season than him if you’re not gonna do the same for Brunson.

[iLLmatic860]

Well hopefully I don’t jinx myself but something about 76ers does not scare me at all

[rzzzzz]

Knicks are going to win. Embiid better not get his flop ass calls in New York

Foul him and he’ll make his free throws. Don’t foul him and hope he doesn’t hit his shots. Double him and he’ll hit the open man. (That’s where he had the most improvement this year.) Yeah, he’s banged up. But Nurse ain’t Brett or Doc. Enjoy.

[CKB]

The x-factor is Villanova connection. They have the best chemistry in the league. They keep everyone accountable. No shenanigans. They play with some much grit. OG is the ultimate disruptor that you can't game plan against. Will Bogdanovic provide the scoring off the bench? Will the Knicks players burn out from playing high minutes every game?! Mcbride needs to score 15 points a game and play great defense on Maxey. Can Hartenstein and Robinson keep Embiid from shooting 20 free throws a game?

Maxey needs to play out of his mind for the Sixers to win this series. He needs to drive into the lane and cause havoc. Break down the defense and pass to the open elite shooters on the perimeter like Buddy and Oubre. Will Harris finally come out of his slump to provide the much needed offensive power that he was signed for? Embiid's health is the biggest question. Can he handle the physical defensive from the Knicks for 7 games? Oubre and Batum needs to lock down on Brunson and make him shoot 5-20 FG per game. Force other Knicks to score.

[eyeatoma]

The x-factor is Villanova connection. They have the best chemistry in the league. They keep everyone accountable. No shenanigans. They play with some much grit. OG is the ultimate disruptor that you can't game plan against. Will Bogdanovic provide the scoring off the bench? Will the Knicks players burn out from playing high minutes every game?! Mcbride needs to score 15 points a game and play great defense on Maxey. Can Hartenstein and Robinson keep Embiid from shooting 20 free throws a game?

Maxey needs to play out of his mind for the Sixers to win this series. He needs to drive into the lane and cause havoc. Break down the defense and pass to the open elite shooters on the perimeter like Buddy and Oubre. Will Harris finally come out of his slump to provide the much needed offensive power that he was signed for? Embiid's health is the biggest question. Can he handle the physical defensive from the Knicks for 7 games? Oubre and Batum needs to lock down on Brunson and make him shoot 5-20 FG per game. Force other Knicks to score.

If Embiid plays 85 to 90% this series is done. You have an MVP, who put up 35 ppg on the best efficiency of all time. Maxey does not need to play out of his mind. He hits his season averages, and the Knicks are sunk. It will all depend on Embiid, not Maxey...

[Michael Jackson]

Knicks in 7. Just see Joel being to banged up and I love Thibs

[hippesthippo]

Sixers in 6.

I don't see who the 2nd guy is on offense for the Knicks. Yeah, they have some guys, but creating shots in the playoffs is different. They'll need to have some crazy selfless ball movement if they're gonna score enough points to win.

Knicks take 2 because they're a mentally tough team and Embiid chokes in the playoffs every now and... well, all of the time.

[Residual-Heat]

Going to go with the Knicks to win the series in 7 maybe 6. Robinson and Hartenstein will play aggressive defense vs an unhealthy Embiid. They wont have to worry about foul trouble.

[Scalabrine]

Ok I would love to see you attempt to name 35 players better than Maxey currently.

On top of the 20 I already named…

Zion
Ingram
Jaylen Brown
Kyrie
Jamal Murray
Ja Morant

It starts getting debatable around here…

Dame
KAT
Paolo
Randle
Trae Young
Scottie Barnes
Siakam
Lauri

You could put Maxey anywhere in this range. Could take any of these players over him. You could pick him over them if you choose. But again, top 35 range.

A player who averages 26 ppg, 3 3pg,over 6 assists, and under 2 turnovers per game is not top 35 by any stretch of the imagination. That is the definition of a top 20 player.

Who are you taking in his list over him? Those are some pretty elite players.

[eyeatoma]

On top of the 20 I already named…

Zion
Ingram
Jaylen Brown
Kyrie
Jamal Murray
Ja Morant

It starts getting debatable around here…

Dame
KAT
Paolo
Randle
Trae Young
Scottie Barnes
Siakam
Lauri

You could put Maxey anywhere in this range. Could take any of these players over him. You could pick him over them if you choose. But again, top 35 range.

A player who averages 26 ppg, 3 3pg,over 6 assists, and under 2 turnovers per game is not top 35 by any stretch of the imagination. That is the definition of a top 20 player.

Who are you taking in his list over him? Those are some pretty elite players.

You mean who is Maxey better than?

Better than everyone below his debatle around here section.

Better than Murray, Morant, Brown and Ingram. 2 players in the list are better than him, that's it.

[Scalabrine]

Reasons why the Knicks think they can beat us:
- They have defeated us three times by significant margins (though we managed to win once without Jojo and Maxey).
- Embiid is not at 100% (I believe this is more related to conditioning).
- Knicks has 2 starting caliber to borderline star bigs
- They have a win percentage of .90 or higher with OG and Brunson.

Reasons why the Sixers think they can beat the Knicks:
- Embiid is significantly better than Brunson.
- There's a small gap between Maxey and Brunson.
- We seem to have the right tools that has been proven effective to slow down Brunson.
- The Sixers have been the clear second-best team when Embiid is healthy.

My thoughts:
I believe we have a 60+% chance of beating the Knicks. I'm quite confident in our ability to defeat them, although not overly so. And this changes as the series goes.

This Knicks squad reminds me of the 2021 Hawks, and the toughness of the 2018 Celtics, but they are mostly comparable in talent to our first-round opponents rather than our second-round opponents.

I also have concerns about Embiid's conditioning, especially for Game 1. Additionally, I'm unsure about Tobi's situation, and I don't expect Batum to maintain a 5-6 three-pointers per game average.

Nevertheless, Vegas seems to slightly favor us in the series, which promises to be an exciting matchup.

Regardless of the outcome, as long as we play with intensity and intelligence and Embiid remains healthy, I'll accept the result.

If we can’t beat the Knicks, then we most likely won’t be able to beat the Bucks and the Celtics.

The biggest advantage is you have Nick Nurse who understands OG's limitations and will come up with an effective strategy for the series.

WHAT LIMITATIONS?!?!

[bronxknicksfan1]

Ok I would love to see you attempt to name 35 players better than Maxey currently.

On top of the 20 I already named…

Zion
Ingram
Jaylen Brown
Kyrie
Jamal Murray
Ja Morant

It starts getting debatable around here…

Dame
KAT
Paolo
Randle
Trae Young
Scottie Barnes
Siakam
Lauri

You could put Maxey anywhere in this range. Could take any of these players over him. You could pick him over them if you choose. But again, top 35 range.

No definitely not, a lot of these players you named didn’t have as good of a season as Tyrese did. Isn’t that why you rate Brunson so high is because he had a great season? You can’t take players over Tyrese that didn’t have a better season than him if you’re not gonna do the same for Brunson.

Brunson had a better season than all those guys listed here. It’s very debatable if Maxey had a better season than a lot of those guys listed. Hence why I said he’s more in the top 35 range. You could make an argument for all of them and put them in whatever order you want tbh.

[thelead]

Going with the Knicks in 6 if Embiid isn't at 80% or better... and I don't think he is.

[bronxknicksfan1]

A player who averages 26 ppg, 3 3pg,over 6 assists, and under 2 turnovers per game is not top 35 by any stretch of the imagination. That is the definition of a top 20 player.

Who are you taking in his list over him? Those are some pretty elite players.

You mean who is Maxey better than?

Better than everyone below his debatle around here section.

Better than Murray, Morant, Brown and Ingram. 2 players in the list are better than him, that's it.

Like I mentioned, you could make the debate for Maxey over any of the player I put on that list. Those 4 players are definitely better than him rn imo.

[Magicman125]

Sixers in 6 purely out of homerism

[Jcity08]

Since my team isn't in the playoffs, Im a Knicks fan for this round.

[cgf]

Who's not healthy for game 1 on the Knicks? Just Randle? and is he ever due back?

To me, as in every series, OG is the difference/x-factor. They get enough from him and Brunson to win, so the others just have to hold their ground.

Randle’s the only one out, but a bunch of guys are not 100%…including OG & RobinHart.

[NotaHypeJob]

This is the best series of the first round, greta matchup with elite/historic franchises that move the needle. I'm hoping for a generational Embiid postseason run

[kuclas]

I expect a knicks blow out first game after first half.
Gritty knicks style with some back breaking keep buckets by Brunson or the 3 ball by Donte DiVincenzo will and likely blow game open.