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4 Changes the Knicks Must Be Ready for 76ers to Make in Game 2

Kento Kato|
Knicks head coach Mike Brown talks with guard Jalen Brunson.
Knicks head coach Mike Brown talks with guard Jalen Brunson. | Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images

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New York Knicks

Game 1 was pretty much everything Knicks fans could have hoped for. They slowed down Tyrese Maxey, and Joel Embiid was quiet, outside of his usual free-throw antics.

New York also easily dismantled a 76ers defense that some believed had the answers for Jalen Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns, OG Anunoby, and the Knicks' revamped offense. And they did it all in such dominant fashion that Nick Nurse threw in the towel, waved the white flag, and sat his starters for the final quarter and a half.

But the regardless of how flawed the 76ers looked Monday night, this is still a good team with some really good players, and an imperfect but championship-winning coach. With extra time to reset after last weekend's intense finale against the Celtics, and Nurse and his team will surely make some adjustments heading into a pivotal Game 2, which the Knicks have to be prepared for.

Matching the physicality in Wednesday's rematch

A lot of the talk surrounding Game 1 was rightfully on the Knicks' offense and how dominant it looked. But both head coaches, as well as Embiid, brought up hustle and physicality as being a key factor.

Mike Brown mentioned that of the 16 loose balls his staff tracked as being 50-50, the Knicks came up with 14 of them. Nurse echoed a similar sentiment, saying, "I thought it was physical. I didn't think we handled it great. We're going to have to handle it better."

And Embiid, when asked about the play where Mikal Bridges ran into him on a screen, said, "It’s playoff basketball…I guess we got to be physical, too.”

Going back to the 2020-21 season in which the Knicks made their first postseason in almost a decade, they have built a reputation of being physical. Even as the roster, and coach, have changed that mentality has been consistent. Last night, it was no different.

Just a few days after Hawks players cited physicality as a difference maker, New York made it a point to out-hustle a 76ers team that was less than two full days removed from a physically, and emotionally draining Game 7.

With the threat of going down 0-2 being very real, expect Philadelphia to come out Wednesday night looking to throw the proverbial next punch. If they are serious about competing in this series, that punch, or series of punches, will have to come on both ends of the floor.

Don't be surprised if Embiid and co. set some hard screens, commit some hard fouls, and make life a bit more uncomfortable for Jalen Brunson.

Attacking Jalen Brunson on defense to impact his offense

The 76ers had a hard time stopping Brunson on Monday. And that's an understatement. Despite being able to contain him during the regular season thanks in part to the superb defense of VJ Edgecombe, Brunson went back to his old ways of torching them Monday night.

Over his last five postseason games against the 76ers, Brunson is averaging an absurd 40.4 PPG, and 8.8 APG. When a team starts running out of answers for an opposing player, one of the oldest counterattacks has been to make them defend.

Many teams have tried to, and succeeded in making Brunson defend. Look no further than New York's first-round series against Atlanta. They, much like the Knicks did to Embiid in Game 1, identified where Brunson was, and relentlessly attacked him early on.

76ers forward Paul George guarded by the Knicks' Jalen Brunson.
76ers forward Paul George guarded by the Knicks' Jalen Brunson. | Bill Streicher-Imagn Images

The Knicks did do a great job of eventually switching up the matchups, showing harder on screens, and helping out their captain. But it remains the smart thing to do against a defense that has otherwise been among the league's best for months now.

If the 76ers want to at least slow down Brunson, they'll have to get him much more involved defensively than in game one. We did start to see a glimpse on this in the third quarter when Edgecomble went right at Brunson on back-to-back possessions.

The confusing part of it all was the fact that Maxey has consistently attacked Brunson over the last couple years. He and the 76ers have become adept at finding different ways to get Brunson to defend in space, and then attacking him. Whether it's Maxey himself, or Edgecombe, look for them to actively seek out and set up those matchups much more often in Game 2.

Finding a way to hide Joel Embiid so Knicks can't exploit him

Over the 36 hours leading into Game 1, there was a great amount of talk surrounding who the Knicks were going to hide Brunson on. Since Game 1's conclusion though, the focus has been on how the 76ers can minimize the frequency in which they attack Embiid's lack of mobility on the defensive end.

This is no easy task because they obviously need him out there. You can't put him on Brunson for obvious reasons. Him on Towns just plays in to what the Knicks want to do most, which is spam pick-and-rolls with the big man. Having him guard Mikal Bridges, who looks like a slot receiver in finding all of the right seams at the right times, sounds like a nightmare for any big, let alone one that can't move well.

The only two real solutions then becomes asking him to guard OG Anunoby, which they did try Monday night, or sticking him on Josh Hart -- something teams have tried to do with their big men before. The former has worked at times in the past, but with the way the current Knicks are moving without the ball, playing with intention, and being decisive, it looked futile.

The other option of putting him on Hart makes sense in theory. Putting a big man on Hart has worked for much of the season. But asking your least mobile player, who is dealing with lingering injuries, and already looked slow, to defend the player who moves the most sounds counterintuitive.

My guess is that they'll have him defend Anunoby a bit more, while emphasizing better rotations. Though I could see Nurse putting Embiid on Hart, much like he did when these two teams met in the opening round of the 2024 playoffs, daring Hart to beat them.

This would not only help Embiid, but could eliminate some of Brunson's easier looks against the 76ers' drop coverage. What makes the current iteration of the Knicks so dangerous though, is their ability to score without over-relying on Brunson.

Closing the possession battle gap with better execution, slower pace

The Knicks won the possession battle as predicted on Monday. They were tied in offensive rebounds on the night, but had 11 more defensive rebounds, largely due to the 76ers missing so many more shots.

They also forced four more turnovers than the 76ers did, which led to being a +12 in points off TOs. That was significant since Philadelphia was great at taking care of the ball in the first round. Because of all of that, New York was able to take 11 more field goat attempts, which made up for the 34-17 free-throw discrepancy.

Nurse and his team may have a hard time completely stopping the Knicks' offensive freight train, but if they can clean up some of their turnovers, limit fastbreak opportunities, and be a bit better on the boards, it would help their defense tremendously.

Expect the less fresh, and less deep 76ers to slow the game down even more, and keep the battle of possessions closer in Game 2.

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Kento Kato
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