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

[ag3]

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.

[Iron Mantis]

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.

Agreed.

I don't think Philly wishes All-NBA Randle was healthy so they can play the Knicks at full strength.

We have our opponent, it's war now. The Knicks need every advantage.

[Clyde_Style]

[KnicksGadfly]

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.

Yep. We’re also not at full strength, and they’re not either. We’ll also get our full share of monsters if we’re lucky enough to go deep in the playoffs.

[mpharris36]

I like our depth better. They got two of the best 3 players.

I’d be surprised if it doesn’t go 6 games either way. I don’t think this is an easy opponent as long as Embiid is healthy & out of foul trouble

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.

[thebuzzardman]

Hopefully the 76ers are forced to run the offense through the magnificent Tobias Harris

[mpharris36]

Hopefully the 76ers are forced to run the offense through the magnificent Tobias Harris

sixers fans have had enough...even before his shots were going up they started booing

[NoLayupRule]

just our luck

an resurgent Embid beats the heat by 1 point and now Butler may be out for a long while.

come on basketball gods
WTF

[Knicksfan1992]

I like our depth better. They got two of the best 3 players.

I’d be surprised if it doesn’t go 6 games either way. I don’t think this is an easy opponent as long as Embiid is healthy & out of foul trouble

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

[nedleeds]

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 hope he dislocates his wrist flailing and flopping and falling down every 30 seconds. Embiid is talented and smart but he's unwatchable. A 7' 1" Harden.

[mpharris36]

I like our depth better. They got two of the best 3 players.

I’d be surprised if it doesn’t go 6 games either way. I don’t think this is an easy opponent as long as Embiid is healthy & out of foul trouble

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.

[NY2k1]

Given Butler's injury, do we think they may have been the better matchup now? Lol.

Either way, I think the Knicks should still end up beating the Sixers. Especially with Embiid not 100% healthy.

[mpharris36]

Given Butler's injury, do we think they may have been the better matchup now? Lol.

Either way, I think the Knicks should still end up beating the Sixers. Especially with Embiid not 100% healthy.

the only reason we are playing the sixers is because of the Butler injury.

[3toheadmelo]

i remember when a lot of people were taking the heat lightly last year too and we saw what happened. ima say it again this won't be an easy series.

nick nurse is no joke. i look at him in the same light as spo.

Read on Twitter

he also made a lot of really good adjustments in halftime and benched tobias to close out the game.


donte divcenzo is a big x factor for us. he's likely gonna be our 2nd option but the guy has a history of schitting the bed in the playoffs. averages 5.6 ppg on 38/31/65 splits in the post season. hopefully he can finally redeem himself this time around. or we're screwed lol

[FrozenEnvelope]

Given Butler's injury, do we think they may have been the better matchup now? Lol.

Either way, I think the Knicks should still end up beating the Sixers. Especially with Embiid not 100% healthy.

Of course you rather play the cHeat knowing Butler is out but I kind of will be surprised if Embiid is able to play every game this series. I fully expect to win Game 1 and 2 at the Garden. If Philly losses game 3 at home, I could see them waving the white flag and sitting down Embiid the rest of the series. He did not look good last night at all. Joked he looked like the Orlando Magic version of Ewing.

[NYKinMIA]

[RHODEY]

It’s wild the Knicks and Sixers haven’t faced each other in decades.

Has to be 30+ years I think

1989 first round

We were very petty back then

Watch on YouTube

[RHODEY]

knicks in 6, i wanna say 5 tho. i’m hoping we can take over philly like we did in the regular season.

Call me crazy but I think we could have swept the Heat BEFORE Jimmy **** up his knee today, but AFTER it we would have demolished them. Lots of people think they would be more dangerous than he Sixers, I disagree, I think we will win this series (I have us in the Finals) but Sixers may take 2 or even 3 games (we beat them in 7). As a group, we have overcome lots of adversity in the regular season, but they haven't really played together in the playoffs. I wouldn't be surprised if Sixers take Game 1...

The Heat may not even make the playoffs at all now with Jimmy limping, DeRozan and White will be too much for them.

Heat looked bad. Hero is trash...RJ 10x better than that scrub.

[Fat Kat]

Read on Twitter

[NoDopeOnSundays]

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.

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.