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

[DaGawd]

Interesting. Vegas has Sixers as the favorites, but the overwhelming majority of the posts in this thread have the Knicks in 5 or 6.

So, what specific things are the sharps in Vegas missing? I guess they are ready to give money away - yes?

that embiid is anything but a lock to finish this series intact

[Los_29]

Isn’t cracking the top 20? Maxey is definitely a top 20 player.

The knicks are build around Brunson the sixers aren’t built around maxey so of course the sixers would struggle without Embiid. If Tyrese had a team built around him I’m sure he would post similar scoring #’s as Brunson. Brunson is also 4 years older and he isn’t a top 10 player he’s more in that 12–15 range maxey is in the 15-18 range. Considering the 4 year age gap I’d rather have Maxey.

So like I said he’s every bit as good as Brunson, Brunson obviously had a better season but that doesn’t mean he’s the sure fire better player. both are all stars one will win MIP and the other will make an All NBA team. Both had great seasons.

In a weak Eastern Conference he lead the team to a 14-20 record without Embiid. You’d have to be a fool to believe that’s a top 15-18 player.

Clearly you haven’t watched Maxey play much this season. He established himself as one of the best perimeter players in the league. Despite the sixers record without Embiid he is still in that top 15 range.

Maxey had below average efficiency without Embiid and he did it at high volume as well. That's not a recipe for success. If Embiid is healthy the Sixers should win this series. However, Maxey is not on Brunson's level and those two should not be compared with one another.

[cgf]

Isn’t cracking the top 20? Maxey is definitely a top 20 player.

The knicks are build around Brunson the sixers aren’t built around maxey so of course the sixers would struggle without Embiid. If Tyrese had a team built around him I’m sure he would post similar scoring #’s as Brunson. Brunson is also 4 years older and he isn’t a top 10 player he’s more in that 12–15 range maxey is in the 15-18 range. Considering the 4 year age gap I’d rather have Maxey.

So like I said he’s every bit as good as Brunson, Brunson obviously had a better season but that doesn’t mean he’s the sure fire better player. both are all stars one will win MIP and the other will make an All NBA team. Both had great seasons.

In a weak Eastern Conference he lead the team to a 14-20 record without Embiid. You’d have to be a fool to believe that’s a top 15-18 player.

Clearly you haven’t watched Maxey play much this season. He established himself as one of the best perimeter players in the league. Despite the sixers record without Embiid he is still in that top 15 range.

So which of these 28 players is Maxey already better than? I think he's better than some of them already, but to get into that "top 15 range", he needs to be better than 10-15 of these:

Jokic
Giannis
Embiid
Wembanyama
Davis
Towns
Adebayo
Sabonis

Doncic
Tatum
Kawhi
Durant
Lebron
Butler
Zion
George
Brown

Curry
SGA
Brunson
Mitchell
Booker
Edwards
Haliburton
Morant
Murray
Fox
Lillard

[jc23]

got the knicks

[Kurtz]

Jeez, another thread spoiled by Eyetoma's insecurity.

Anyway, Nurse will double the crap out of Brunson the entire series - get ready for the return of the Box & One. The other Knicks will have to make their shots, particularly Divincenzo. The matchups seem to favour Philly a bit but should be a close, hard series.

[cgf]

Interesting. Vegas has Sixers as the favorites, but the overwhelming majority of the posts in this thread have the Knicks in 5 or 6.

So, what specific things are the sharps in Vegas missing? I guess they are ready to give money away - yes?

that embiid is anything but a lock to finish this series intact

I don't think Vegas is missing anything; they're not trying to predict who'll win, they're trying to predict where the bets will go.

Philly is the team with last season's MVP on their roster and have been a playoff team for years now. The Knicks are the team whose most decorated/accomplished player had season ending shoulder surgery, and our two decades of awfulness only ended 4 seasons ago.

I'd expect the majority of casual dollars to go towards Philly...especially with the National media guys hyping Philly for their record with Embiid to finish the season...even though I think we're more likely to win than not, even if Embiid is at 90% or better.

[Scalabrine]

The Knicks have multiple bigs to throw at Embiid and make him work. I still expect him to get his, but it won't be easy. I am excited to see what Nurse does to contain Brunson. They don't really have a defensive guard that can hang with him. Maybe they put size on him with Batum or Oubre and just swarm him up top? Usually teams pick him up full court and get the ball out of his hands but I don't think they have the personnel to make that happen.

I imagine the Sixers will start the game with:

Lowry vs Brunson
Maxey vs Divincenzo
Oubre on Hart
Harris on OG
Embiid on Hartenstein

I think the Knicks will probably have it:

Hart or OG on Maxey
Divincenzo on Oubre
Brunson on Lowry
OG or Hart on Harris
Hartenstein on Embiid

They will have OG or Hart play off Harris and swarming Embiid, keeping him out of the paint.

[durden_tyler]

Interesting. Vegas has Sixers as the favorites, but the overwhelming majority of the posts in this thread have the Knicks in 5 or 6.

So, what specific things are the sharps in Vegas missing? I guess they are ready to give money away - yes?

that embiid is anything but a lock to finish this series intact

I don't think Vegas is missing anything; they're not trying to predict who'll win, they're trying to predict where the bets will go.

Philly is the team with last season's MVP on their roster and have been in a playoff team for years now. The Knicks are the team whose most decorated/accomplished player had season ending shoulder surgery, and our two decades of awfulness only ended 4 seasons ago.

I'd expect the majority of casual dollars to go towards Philly...especially with the National media guys hyping Philly for their record with Embiid to finish the season...even though I think we're more likely to win than not, even if Embiid is at 90% or better.

Also Sixers are not the favorites. Neither are the Knicks. It’s even odds until gametime methinks.


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[Jadoogar]

Embiid didn't look fully healthy but he was still extremely impactful last night. I think Sixers will have a legit chance in this game as Embiid plays himself into shape.

Sixers in 7

[cgf]

The Knicks have multiple bigs to throw at Embiid and make him work. I still expect him to get his, but it won't be easy. I am excited to see what Nurse does to contain Brunson. They don't really have a defensive guard that can hang with him. Maybe they put size on him with Batum or Oubre and just swarm him up top? Usually teams pick him up full court and get the ball out of his hands but I don't think they have the personnel to make that happen.

I imagine the Sixers will start the game with:

Lowry vs Brunson
Maxey vs Divincenzo
Oubre on Hart
Harris on OG
Embiid on Hartenstein

I think the Knicks will probably have it:

Hart or OG on Maxey
Divincenzo on Oubre
Brunson on Lowry
OG or Hart on Harris
Hartenstein on Embiid

They will have OG or Hart play off Harris and swarming Embiid, keeping him out of the paint.

Oubre might be a higher priority than Harris.

[Zeno]

Can't believe I'm rooting for the 76ers. Thanks Kyle. But I don't see this being a particularly competitive series. Knicks in 5 or perhaps 6.

[Scalabrine]

The Knicks have multiple bigs to throw at Embiid and make him work. I still expect him to get his, but it won't be easy. I am excited to see what Nurse does to contain Brunson. They don't really have a defensive guard that can hang with him. Maybe they put size on him with Batum or Oubre and just swarm him up top? Usually teams pick him up full court and get the ball out of his hands but I don't think they have the personnel to make that happen.

I imagine the Sixers will start the game with:

Lowry vs Brunson
Maxey vs Divincenzo
Oubre on Hart
Harris on OG
Embiid on Hartenstein

I think the Knicks will probably have it:

Hart or OG on Maxey
Divincenzo on Oubre
Brunson on Lowry
OG or Hart on Harris
Hartenstein on Embiid

They will have OG or Hart play off Harris and swarming Embiid, keeping him out of the paint.

Oubre might be a higher priority than Harris.

I agree, but I think that Dante can handle him or we put Dante on Maxey if he's not big enough. I would rather put OG or Hart on Harris because I feel fine sagging off of him until he starts hitting jumpers.

[CD_41]

Isn’t cracking the top 20? Maxey is definitely a top 20 player.

The knicks are build around Brunson the sixers aren’t built around maxey so of course the sixers would struggle without Embiid. If Tyrese had a team built around him I’m sure he would post similar scoring #’s as Brunson. Brunson is also 4 years older and he isn’t a top 10 player he’s more in that 12–15 range maxey is in the 15-18 range. Considering the 4 year age gap I’d rather have Maxey.

So like I said he’s every bit as good as Brunson, Brunson obviously had a better season but that doesn’t mean he’s the sure fire better player. both are all stars one will win MIP and the other will make an All NBA team. Both had great seasons.

In a weak Eastern Conference he lead the team to a 14-20 record without Embiid. You’d have to be a fool to believe that’s a top 15-18 player.

Clearly you haven’t watched Maxey play much this season. He established himself as one of the best perimeter players in the league. Despite the sixers record without Embiid he is still in that top 15 range.

As you may remember: We had a bet on Embiid and since you lost that bet you`re not allowed to post on realgm for the time of the playoffs. Hope you're a good sport and stand by your word.

[Bergmaniac]

Embiid looks nowhere near 100% fit in the play-in to me, if he is the same way in this series the Knicks would be strong favourites to progress.

[Capn'O]

Interesting. Vegas has Sixers as the favorites, but the overwhelming majority of the posts in this thread have the Knicks in 5 or 6.

So, what specific things are the sharps in Vegas missing? I guess they are ready to give money away - yes?

I think the argument is that the Knicks are healthier than they've been in months whereas Embiid looks a step slow right now and Melton is questionable. The Knicks also have good personnel to manage Embiid whereas Brunson will have his run of the place.

I can see that scenario play out. I can also see a scenario where the lack of a true second option becomes insurmountable with Maxey going off. I wouldn't give either team a clear advantage.

I can guarantee this though - Brunson is gonna cook in this series.

[Capn'O]

Embiid is not injured or out of shape, so I don't understand why people keep saying that. People see him struggling and think he must be hurt or something, but he is ok. He simply performs poorly against proper defensive schemes.
Knicks in 7

He just looks like he's obviously limping around. He had to leave the game in the 4th quarter for a few minutes to catch his breath. It just seems like he's obviously both not 100% in shape and hobbled. I expect him to play through it and still be effective, but I think youre ignoring the obvious here.

Yup. He looks like he's carrying a lot of extra weight to me.

[cgf]

Interesting. Vegas has Sixers as the favorites, but the overwhelming majority of the posts in this thread have the Knicks in 5 or 6.

So, what specific things are the sharps in Vegas missing? I guess they are ready to give money away - yes?

I think the argument is that the Knicks are healthier than they've been in months whereas Embiid looks a step slow right now and Melton is questionable. The Knicks also have good personnel to manage Embiid whereas Brunson will have his run of the place.

I can see that scenario play out. I can also see a scenario where the lack of a true second option becomes insurmountable with Maxey going off. I wouldn't give either team a clear advantage.

I can guarantee this though - Brunson is gonna cook in this series.

One team going cold while the other gets hot could be more important than anything else in this series. If that doesn't decide it, it will definitely be interesting to see how each coach solves the problems they can create for one another...especially with how many different defenders we can throw at Joel & Maxey.

[kuclas]

If Nick Nurse is such a genius coach and upgrade over Doc Rivers that Raptors fans and Sixers fans say he is, he should win this series against an injured team.

Sixers have had more major injuries than knicks

They still missing their two best perimeter defenders Covington and melton half the season and embiid playing at 70-80%.

[Knicks Byke]

can't wait.

[Knicks Byke]

If Nick Nurse is such a genius coach and upgrade over Doc Rivers that Raptors fans and Sixers fans say he is, he should win this series against an injured team.

Sixers have had more major injuries than knicks

They still missing their two best perimeter defenders Covington and melton half the season and embiid playing at 70-80%.

cap.