basketballto wrote:76ciology wrote: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.
I didn’t know playing defense had limitations ??? So nurse will get his defense to hold OG from playing defense ….
