2024 Playoffs Eastern Conference First Round: (2) New York Knicks vs (7) Philadelphia 76ers - The Danse Macabre

lovegtm

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Not exactly analogous, but, at a certain point, "healthy Embiid" needs to be viewed as a theoretical construct on the lines of "healthy Timelord" or "healthy Hayward."

It's always something, it's always something different, and something always happens.
 
tims4wins

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lovegtm said:
Not exactly analogous, but, at a certain point, "healthy Embiid" needs to be viewed as a theoretical construct on the lines of "healthy Timelord" or "healthy Hayward."

It's always something, it's always something different, and something always happens.
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Trevor Story isn’t injury prone, right?
 
jon abbey

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That was the most minutes Robinson has played since returning after being out 3+ months, nice to see him getting back into game shape. He might have been the MVP of their first round win against the Cavs last year, over 5 offensive boards per game in that series and 7 more last night.
 
Tony C

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Man, Mitchell Robinson looked good. Knicks are a very good team.
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They're a good team, but "very good" seems a bit strong. My sense from that game is Philly wins game/series easily with a healthy Embiid; Probably wins with Embiid at 90%; and NY wins with either a crippled Embiid or Embiid on the bench. tl;dr: NY is a good, tough team but doesn't pop out as impressive -- i.e, you don't think watching them that they have a real shot to win anything.....or really to even win a 1st round match if Embiid was semi-healthy.
 
Murderer's Crow

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Tony C said:
They're a good team, but "very good" seems a bit strong. My sense from that game is Philly wins game/series easily with a healthy Embiid; Probably wins with Embiid at 90%; and NY wins with either a crippled Embiid or Embiid on the bench. tl;dr: NY is a good, tough team but doesn't pop out as impressive -- i.e, you don't think watching them that they have a real shot to win anything.....or really to even win a 1st round match if Embiid was semi-healthy.
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The Knicks were up 6 with Embiid playing pretty ridiculous before he went down, Divincenzo asleep, and Brunson having an okay game.

I'm not saying they're title contenders, they'd have to play their absolute peak and nearly perfect every series to even have a chance, but they're a better team than Philly. It won't be easy, but I'd say that if they beat Philly, they'll have an easier time in round 2 before they get wrecked by Boston.
 
jon abbey

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Tony C said:
NY is a good, tough team but doesn't pop out as impressive
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Yeah, they are greater than the sum of the parts, it's a bit confusing even for those of us who watch them every game. One thing of course is that they are missing Julius Randle, who was playing the best ball of his life before getting hurt, and who made the East All-Star team this season.

But that aside, I think this offers a bit of insight. If you sort all the three player combos in the league, NY has the 3rd best 3 man offensive rating combo in the league:

Hartenstein/Brunson/McBride
(behind only Harden/George/Plumlee and Embiid/Batum/Melton)

And the 3rd best 3 man defensive rating combo in the league:

Hartenstein/Anuoby/Hart
(behind a Gobert-led trio for MIN and a HOU trio)

So take those five guys, throw in two scorers in DiVincenzo (3rd most 3s made in the league this year, way behind Curry and just 1 behind Luka in 2nd) and Bogdanovic plus Mitchell Robinson, and that's a fascinating eight man rotation. Could they use another stud scorer? Absolutely. Will they be major underdogs if they face the Celtics like every other team in the East? Absolutely. Are they really hard to beat with Anunoby in there? Absolutely, they are 21-3 with him now, 20-2 when both he and Brunson play.
 
Ed Hillel

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wade boggs chicken dinner said:
Are you saying that they're a better team than PHI right now or that they're a better team than PHI with a healthy Embiid?

If the latter, I don't think too many people agree with that. I think PHI with a healthy Embiid is a better team.
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If Randle was healthy I’d like NY, and I probably have it as a tossup with healthy Embiid and injured Randle.
 
jon abbey

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He did a great job slowing down Brunson with guys in front of him and someone trailing him, but it led to a lot of wide open 3s and a ton of offensive rebounds. NY had 23 offensive boards and PHI only had 24 defensive (!).
 
lovegtm

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jon abbey said:
He did a great job slowing down Brunson with guys in front of him and someone trailing him, but it let to a lot of wide open 3s and a ton of offensive rebounds. NY had 23 offensive boards and PHI only had 24 defensive (!).
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Yeah, it was ultimately solvable, and the Knicks came up with some nice solutions. I don't think Nurse is the best coach out there, but he definitely is up there on the "willing to get weird" scale.
 
bigq

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Embiid and Maxey both GTD tonight. If either one of them is out the 76ers are in trouble.
 
JoeSuit

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The play looked weird because it’s usually Embiid dropping dramatically like a sack of dirt. Very good no call.
 
JoeSuit

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PHI is a top 3 loathe in my house barely behind the LAL and MIA. Will not, can not root for them.
 
JoeSuit

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I have more of an issue with the media glorifying the Knicks…like basketball deserves and needs a great Knicks team. Otherwise I pretty much nothing them. They haven’t been relevant.
 
bankshot1

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Philly is my 1a to LALs 1. Knicks are 3 and have been on my sports hate list for over 50 years. But I'm rooting for a long Phly/NYK series which they beat the shit out of each other. I also think Knicks would be a tougher ECF match up for the Celts
 
lovegtm

lovegtm

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Dumb "Tatum vs. Brunson" stuff aside, I think Brunson is really good, and I'm pretty surprised at how bad he's been against Philly.

Particularly with Hart hot from 3, Philly shouldn't be able to contain Jalen like this.
 
Cellar-Door

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lovegtm said:
Dumb "Tatum vs. Brunson" stuff aside, I think Brunson is really good, and I'm pretty surprised at how bad he's been against Philly.

Particularly with Hart hot from 3, Philly shouldn't be able to contain Jalen like this.
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Hart is hot from 3 though because they leave him to blitz/double Brunson. Question is .... does Nurse just continue to trust the strategy and hope Hart starts missing, or does he stop leaving him and risk Brunson getting unlocked.
 
PedroKsBambino

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Lowry looks a lot better than he did with the Heat this year. Which isn't saying much (he looked like absolute toast) but ends up being huge for Philly
 
InstaFace

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On that fast break a few minutes ago, where Embiid got it in space in front of Hartenstein, went up, he led with his elbow, put the elbow right in Hartenstein's sternum... and got the foul while sinking it, and-1. That was like 80% offensive foul, 20% play-on... instead, it's the grifter at the line.

I was waffling on my rooting choice, but that settled it, go Knicks. The Bucks can soften them up for us next series.
 
dhellers

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As noted by several above, Phil has always been number two on basketball hate list (behind LAL).
But I find myself rooting against NKY.

Perhaps its just a desire to see them play a long series?
 
stp130

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Can't hate on Philly (at least post-early 80s, anyway). For me, it'll always be LAL (1), Miami (1a), and Knicks (not necessarily for their player, but for their crybaby fans)

Edit: Hell, on second thought (and some stewing), I think Miami might be #1 now. God, I hate them.
 
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