By: Kylan Watson

After beating the Miami Heat on Wednesday night. The Philadelphia 76ers are officially in the 2024 NBA Playoffs as the seventh seed. Their reward for that accomplishment is a first-round matchup against the New York Knicks starting tomorrow evening. This is the first these two rivals have met in the playoffs since 1989. Additionally, in that contest the Knicks swept the Sixers. However,  this year Philly is one of the hottest teams in the association. Currently, riding a nine game winning streak against a Knicks team that is not at full strength. If Philly wants to come out on top they have to cash in on their high percentage shooting opportunities, win the rebound battle, and slowdown the backcourt duo of Jalen Brunson and Donte DiVincenzo.

Can Embiid Be A Factor In This Series?

The Sixers are getting hot and relatively healthy at the right time. They finally got back Joel Embiid who has been up and down over the last two weeks of the season. As he deals with his recovery from meniscus surgery along with not being in game shape as of yet. His pain tolerance in this contest will determine the type of game it is for Philly. He will need to let the game come to him and not force it. Especially, against a Knicks defensive scheme that is designed to pounce on every mistake an opposing team makes.   He needs to use his improved passing ability to make New York pay for double and triple-teaming him. If he trusts his teammates and they cash in on their high-percentage shots. The Sixers can pull of the upset in this contest.

Health of Knicks Players Big Factor As Well In This Series

The Knicks are a team that the Sixers only beat once this year. They dominated the matchup by cashing in on Philly’s mistakes. New York is coming in to this series not at full strength Their high valued trade acquisition Bojan Bogdanovic is dealing with a wrist injury and just saw a specialist to see if he can play. If he is not on the floor that is one less shooter for the Sixers to worry about. In the last two matchups he killed the Sixers with his three-point ability. He is shooting 39.3% from the three-point line and is the second best three-point shooter New York has. Without him on the floor that means more three-point opportunities for DiVincenzo and Brunson. If both of those players impose their will on this contest and combine to score 60-80 points a night. The Sixers will have no chance in this series.

Knicks Backcourt Duo Effectiveness Will Determine Series For Them:

Brunson and DiVincenzo are part of the most explosive backcourt in the league. Brunson is a multi-level scorer and DiVincenzo is a three-point marksman who learned from Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson. If the Sixers allow them to have multiple opportunities to shoot the ball it will be a bad series for them. It will be important for Philly to do all they can to limit DiVincenzo. Brunson is going to get his, but if they can run enough bodies at DiVincenzo and force him to make difficult shots. That gives them a chance because he is not really someone who can shoot well on the move. If they can keep him in the 15-20 point range that’s a win for the Sixers. Additionally, they will have to secure rebounds and keep the Knicks off the boards. If they can slow Brunson and DiVincenzo down the Knicks have no chance in this series. The effectiveness of the duos in this contest will determine this series.

Dynamic Duo dominance and emergence of third and fourth scorers will determine this series for both Philly and New York

What it comes down to in this series will be which teams dynamic duo and role player (s) will dominate this game. In the possible absence of Bogdanovic the Knicks will need a third scorer to show up. That needs to be OG Anunoby who just got back from an injury himself. However, he loves playing against the Sixers. He always seems to find his offensive rhythm against them. The Knicks will need to find that third scorer if they want to beat the Sixers and move on to the second round.

For Philly, can Maxey and Embiid have a better combined scoring and shooting nights than they did against the Heat’s zone on Wednesday? That is a question that Nick Nurse will need to find a solution to. They will need to get one if not both of them going early. When they have it working high-percentage scoring opportunities open up for their role players. They must cash in on those opportunities.  Get a third and fourth scorer to join them if that happens the Sixers can pull off the upset and win this series.