Tyrese Maxey, Sixers Discuss Upcoming Playoff Series vs. Knicks

With a tight victory over the Miami Heat on Wednesday night, the Philadelphia 76ers will fire up a seven-game series against the New York Knicks.

On Saturday, the Sixers will travel to the Big Apple for Game 1, and hope to find favorable results against the Eastern Conference’s second seed.

“It’s gonna be a physical series for sure,” said Sixers head coach Nick Nurse on Wednesday. “I think that’s the way they play.”

The Sixers know New York well. After all, the two teams are division rivals in the Atlantic, and face each other four times during the regular season.

While the Sixers have been known to control the regular season series against the Knicks in the past, this year has been a much different story. In four outings, the Sixers collected just one win. The other three games went into the Knicks’ favor, and it wasn’t particularly close.

“They got our number this year,” said Sixers veteran Nic Batum. “They came in twice in this place, pretty much kicked our butts twice. That was the weirdest game when we get there, lowest scoring game in a while. You know, it’s going to be interesting.”

The Sixers only had Joel Embiid involved in one game against the Knicks this season. Despite having the MVP big man on the floor, the Sixers couldn’t overcome New York’s attack. As a result, the Sixers lost 128-92. One month later, the Knicks paid a visit to South Philly again to collect a 110-96 win.

The Sixers managed to pull off a six-point victory in a low-scoring matchup on the road in early March, but dropped their third and final game to the Knicks two nights later.

Mar 10, 2024; New York, New York, USA; New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson (11) looks to pass the | Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

Praise for Jalen Brunson

With rotations shortening and games holding much more weight, the playoffs tend to leave teams zeroing in on the stars. For the Sixers, they have their attention on the All-Star guard, Jalen Brunson.

“They start at the head of the snake at Jalen Brunson,” said Tyrese Maxey. “We got to find ways to slow him down. Thankfully we got a few people we can kind of throw at him. And we have Joel [Embiid] down there protecting us. But they're an extremely grimy team. They play hard and physical, they're tough, and that's their identity.”

“Brunson is having an MVP season right now,” Nic Batum added. “All those guys are out playing great, aggressive, and it’s the Garden too. Playoff Garden, so it’s a different atmosphere, so it’s going to be a great series.”

The Knicks might’ve been a polarizing team in the past, but their consistency throughout the 2023-2024 season has proven that they cannot be overlooked in the postseason.

“I think they’re for real,” Nick Nurse finished. “I think they’re really good. I think they’re fast. I think they can shoot. I think they hit the glass. I think they guard you. I think they’ve earned that seed. They’ve played really well and beaten a lot of good teams so we’ll have our work to do here in the next couple days to get ready for them.”

Game 1 begins on Saturday at Madison Square Garden. The last time the Sixers paid a visit to the Knicks, they fell short 106-79. With Joel Embiid back in the mix, the big man should offer Philadelphia a much-needed boost.

But as Nurse stated, the Knicks are for real. After building up some playoff experience in recent seasons, New York is looking to take the next step. The Sixers, who have found plenty of success in round one over the years, have to find a way to stop them.