Sixers Second-Round Playoff Schedule vs. Knicks: Dates, Times, TV Channel

The Sixers are moving on to the Eastern Conference semifinals, which is definitely a sentence that you expected to read and I expected to type a week ago.

Prior to Saturday's Game 7, the Boston Celtics were 32-0 all-time after going up 3-1 in a playoff series, while the Sixers were 0-18 all-time. Make that 32-1 and 1-18 now, respectively.

The bad news is that Game 7 in particular was a physical war. Joel Embiid took multiple shots to his knee that had him limping around late in the game like he could barely drag his body up the floor.

And the Sixers do not get much of a chance to recover before they head to New York to face the Knicks in the second round of the playoffs.

Here's the schedule for the Eastern Conference semifinals, with TV information and game times for Games 1-4 already set:

The 2026 NBA draft lottery at 3 p.m. ET, so Game 4 of Sixers-Knicks will begin right after that. As enjoyable as the Rights to Ricky Sanchez lottery parties have been over the years, gearing up for a playoff game after vanquishing the Sixers' hated rivals for the first time in 40-plus years seems even better.

Do the Sixers have more magic up their sleeves?

The Sixers are fresh off based on pre-series odds. They aren't nearly as heavy of underdogs against the Knicks, though.

According to , the Knicks are -270 favorites to beat the Sixers, while the Sixers are +220 underdogs to advance. If they do knock off the Knicks and make it to the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time in 25 years, it wouldn't even be among the top 20 playoff upsets all-time.

The Knicks will pose far different challenges for the Sixers than the Celtics did. They don't live and die by the three like the Celtics did, although they were above-average in makes, attempts and three-point percentage during the regular season. Like the Celtics, they're also one of the league's better rebounding teams.

The Celtics had a Goldilocks problem with their centers, particularly after Embiid returned. Neemias Queta wasn't enough of a threat on offense, Nikola Vučević was absolute food on defense, and Luka Garza couldn't stay out of foul trouble when he did play. Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns is far more of a versatile threat than any of them, while Mitchell Robinson is a dominant offensive rebounder. One quiet key to the series may be whether Andre Drummond can better hold his own against Robinson than he did against the Celtics.

The Knicks also have a pair of lockdown wings in Mikal Bridges and OG Anunoby who figure to make life hell for Tyrese Maxey, VJ Edgecombe and Paul George defensively. Josh Hart was the villain of the Sixers' series against the Knicks in 2024, as the Sixers routinely left him open from deep and dared him to beat them, and he happily obliged.

Point guard Jalen Brunson is easily the weak spot in the Knicks' otherwise stout defense. Regardless of whether the Knicks try to hide him on Maxey, Edgecombe or Kelly Oubre Jr., the Sixers figure to relentlessly attack him. The Knicks' ability to clean up Brunson's defensive mistakes could go a long way toward determining which team advances to the Eastern Conference Finals.

Having only one day off between every game for the first six games of the series could work against the Sixers, too. They more or less cut down their rotation to six players during the final few games of the Celtics series, albeit with a light sprinkling of Drummond and Justin Edwards as well. Still, Maxey, Edgecombe and George were routinely topping 40 minutes per game, while Embiid flirted with that mark despite being only three weeks removed from an appendectomy.

The Knicks will be far more well-rested coming into this series, particularly after laying the wood to the Atlanta Hawks in the final few games of their first-round series. All five of the Knicks' starters played fewer than 30 minutes in their blowout 140-89 series-clinching win over Atlanta on Thursday.

Game 1 might be a throwaway in that regard as the Sixers look to recalibrate against a new opponent after a tight turnaround. But considering what they just pulled off against the Celtics, this year's Sixers have earned the benefit of the doubt in a way that past years' teams could only dream of.

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Unless otherwise noted, all stats via NBA.com, PBPStats, Cleaning the Glass or Basketball Reference. All salary information via Spotrac and salary-cap information via RealGM.

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