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

[mpharris36]

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.

[3toheadmelo]

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

Has to be 30+ years I think

wingo was there

[mpharris36]

OG can guard Embiid at times too. The man has tree trunk legs.

Raps and Sixers played a series 2 years ago, OG couldn't guard him, putting wings on Embiid is not a good idea.

this isn't a healthy embiid though...he barely could move in that game...he was basically only effective hitting trail 3's...he wasn't doing anything off the dribble.

[3toheadmelo]

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

[DaGawd]

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

[DaGawd]

This should be a fun one.

fun to see a decades old division rivalry renewed

[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.

[WaltFrazier]

OG can guard Embiid at times too. The man has tree trunk legs.

Especially now, Embiid doesn't have much lift so his size advantage is negated.

[NoDopeOnSundays]

OG can guard Embiid at times too. The man has tree trunk legs.

Raps and Sixers played a series 2 years ago, OG couldn't guard him, putting wings on Embiid is not a good idea.

this isn't a healthy embiid though...he barely could move in that game...he was basically on effective hitting trail 3's...he wasn't doing anything off the dribble.

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.

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.

[Jalen Bluntson]

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

Yeah. After sweeping them in 89 there was a bit of a rivalry but, it hasn't felt that way since to me. That kinda just died after Barkley left. Looking forward to this matchup though.

[3toheadmelo]

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.

donte shoots 38% from the field and 31% from 3 in the playoffs. he has a history of choking like jr smith. and his defense sucks. im not really confident in him to be honest but i hope he proves me wrong

[Capn'O]

OG can guard Embiid at times too. The man has tree trunk legs.

Especially on the perimeter.

[Ursusamericanus]

Knicks in 6!

[3toheadmelo]

Raps and Sixers played a series 2 years ago, OG couldn't guard him, putting wings on Embiid is not a good idea.

this isn't a healthy embiid though...he barely could move in that game...he was basically on effective hitting trail 3's...he wasn't doing anything off the dribble.

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.

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.

it would've been better for us to play indiana. this is going to be really hard to beat philly.

[ITGM]

[mpharris36]

Raps and Sixers played a series 2 years ago, OG couldn't guard him, putting wings on Embiid is not a good idea.

this isn't a healthy embiid though...he barely could move in that game...he was basically on effective hitting trail 3's...he wasn't doing anything off the dribble.

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.

[NoDopeOnSundays]

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.

[Appleshampoo]

Knicks will eat the 76ers alive on the boards when we can get Embiid out of the game b/c #44 Reed sucks

[jvsimonetti0514]

I wanted the 76ers but I’m still pretty nervous. No one really scares me on their roster outside of the big man and we’ve got a ton of bodies to throw at Embiid. Precious/ OG/ Mitch/ ihart can give him fits and fouls. He was so dominate before tonight it’s making worry that Spo defense is what really screwed him up. Thibs did come up with great plan back in January though. Keep him a jump shooter and we should be able to beat them.

[NoDopeOnSundays]

this isn't a healthy embiid though...he barely could move in that game...he was basically on effective hitting trail 3's...he wasn't doing anything off the dribble.

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.