The Knicks beat up their little brother. On Saturday, they’ll have a chance to choose on somebody their very own dimension.
After a franchise-record 54-point win over the Nets on Wednesday snapped a streak of 9 losses in 11 video games, the Knicks have an actual take a look at once they journey to Philadelphia to face a 76ers staff that’s gained 8 of its final 11 video games.
The run immediately correlates with Joel Embiid‘s return to form following offseason knee surgery. Embiid is averaging 27.2 points on 54% shooting from the field in the month of January. He has three straight 30-point games leading into Saturday’s matchup towards the Knicks and had 26 factors, 10 rebounds and 5 assists on 9-of-15 capturing of their final assembly.
“Embiid’s a Hall of Famer. He’s an All-Star, and he knows all the tricks of the trade. He can beat you shooting the three because he has great touch, he can beat you from the free throw line, he’s getting there eight times a game,” head coach Mike Brown stated after observe on the staff’s Tarrytown coaching facility on Friday. “So we have to make sure we continue to lead with our chest and show our hands. But obviously, he can beat you in the post. So we have to be on point, try not to give him anything easy, especially sending him to the free throw line knowing he’s great at drawing fouls.”
The 76ers have a 2-0 document towards the Knicks with a 10-point common margin of victory this season. As Embiid rounded into kind, Philadelphia leaned closely on its first-time All-Star starter Tyrese Maxey and 2025 No. 3-overall choose VJ Edgecombe.
Maxey, who’s averaging 30 factors and near 7 assists whereas changing on 39% of his 9 3-point makes an attempt a recreation, is a identified pace demon who has given the Knicks points. He hit six 3s in every of the primary two video games towards the Knicks and has scored 30 and 36 factors, respectively, in these conferences.
“Maxey is probably one of the fastest guys in the league, a really good three-point shooter. He does a great job in terms of getting to the line,” stated Hart. “It’s going to be a challenge but we need challenges right now.”
The Knicks additionally had a tough time containing Edgecombe, who hung 23 and 26 factors, respectively, within the first common season video games towards the Knicks of his profession. Former Knick Quentin Grimes additionally scored 10 well timed factors in Philadelphia’s Jan. 3 win.
“They’ve got a lot of talent over there — Maxey, VJ — then guards with QG and wings with Paul [George] and Kelly [Oubre Jr.],” stated Mikal Bridges. “They’ve got a lot of talent.”
The Sixers enter Saturday’s matchup 1.5 video games behind New York within the standings and tied for fifth within the Jap Convention with the Cleveland Cavaliers. Beginning ahead Josh Hart didn’t put an excessive amount of inventory in Philadelphia’s two-game benefit of their season sequence.
Hart sat with an ankle damage when the Knicks misplaced to the Sixers, 130-119, on Jan. 3.
“I don’t know. The first one was on the second half of a back-to-back. [We were] a little tired, a little rugged,” he recalled. “The next one, I didn’t play, I think we didn’t play our best. We lacked attention to detail and focus. It’s always a good matchup. With us two, we’re playing talented teams.”
The Sixers, nonetheless, have been struggling to constantly put factors on the board within the New 12 months. They’ve solely scored greater than 115 in regulation since a Jan. 7 victory over the lowly Washington Wizards.
But they’re averaging north of 123 factors a recreation towards the Knicks, who know they should tighten up on the defensive finish of the ball in the event that they’re going to go away Philadelphia with a win.
“It’s gonna take a team effort, so we have to be on point with our team defense. It can’t just be one guy stopping them, stopping those guys. Because that’s impossible for anybody to do,” stated Brown. “I don’t care how good you are as an individual defender. With the amount of space teams are able to create and how tricky those guys and everybody else is when it comes to one-on-one situations in terms of drawing fouls and stuff like that, our team defense has to be on point throughout the course of the game.”
“The thing is focus on ourselves and know to help each other on the defensive end. It’s never 1 v 1. It should be 1 v 5,” added Bridges. “Whatever guy’s got the ball should see the guy on ball and four help defenders helping each other out. So just mainly focused on what we’ve gotta do to help each other and do our principles.”
