2024 Playoffs Eastern Conference First Round: (2) New York Knicks vs (7) Philadelphia 76ers - The Danse Macabre
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Sixers have looked beyond awful on offense all fourth…Embiid and Maxey cold, rest of them stink
Embiid did some "I'm really tired stumbling Euro step" when a non exhausted version of him just takes on dribble and easily dunks it, regardless of OG
Those complaining about Joe Mazzulla should analyze championship coach Nick Nurse's management of this game - which was kind of a must-win for the 76ers. If you wanted Nick for the C's I think you are thankful right now.
As someone said upthread, I'd love Philly to extend this series and keep these two teams beating on each other, but holy bejesus are they impossible to root for
This is something like the 27th straight playoffs when I'll feel glad when I don't have to watch Lowry play basketball anymore
This is something like the 27th straight playoffs when I'll feel glad when I don't have to watch Lowry play basketball anymore
He said it right after he got fouled. You could read his lips. Not sure how loud or who to, but I saw it very clearly.
I have liked Nurse overall but that’s quite fair—his plan in second half boiled down to “you five guys win the game, see you in 24 minutes”
He was definitely letting them play when their sets were all screwed up. He knows better than me but damn I would not want to waste too many possessions in a game like that.
Intentional miss or not, whats the down side of actually being ready for a potential offensive rebound?
Maybe communication would be nice but it shouldn't matter at all. Maxey was just being lazy, Lowry could still miss even if not intentional.
Jefferson is a bit of a clown, maybe marginally better than Reggie Miller.
Maybe communication would be nice but it shouldn't matter at all. Maxey was just being lazy, Lowry could still miss even if not intentional.
Jefferson is a bit of a clown, maybe marginally better than Reggie Miller.
Even beyond the injuries the Knicks are a flawed team, but damn do they play hard. I like Thibs and I love this team.
That was great. For some weird reason I have an urge to go get some Smoothie King and Jersey Mike’s, and then see Despicable Me. And then do some photoshop.
It just doesn’t make sense. An intentional miss probably has like a 20% or so chance of success. Making it gives you a slight chance of a steal or 2 missed plus a like 30% chance of at least 1 miss. With 7.5 seconds and a timeout, you make the FT.
Embiid having no burst is a big problem for them on the glass. He is often in ok position but unless the ball is coming right to him, he has no chance of being the first to it and the rest of the team seems to be banking on Embiid being able to dominate the glass like he probably would be in this series if he were healthy.
It's only because it was specifically the Empire State Building... it's not like it was the Freedom Tower or Chrysler building. It seemed like someone who is in charge of the ESB account was trying to be funny. I don't think they often declare that particular people are banned from the building via X.
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Embiid was 0-5 for just 1 point and 1 rebound (while the Knicks grabbed 7 offensive rebounds) in the 4th quarter. He scored 50 last game and was off to a red hot start today (10 points and 6 rebounds in Q1), but he's 3-18 in the 4th quarter in this series, and him not taking that wide open mid range shot (his bread and butter shot) with 25 seconds left was a close cousin of Simmons passing out of a dunk because Trae Young was in the way. There are always excuses (Nurse didn't give him enough rest, he's still out of shape, his knee hurts), but this was close to a must win for Philly, at home, with his two primary defenders not playing, and him basically having his way with the Knicks for much of the last two games. If he was injured and/or out of shape, wtf is he doing trying to guard Brunson for 94 feet late in the game? It's too bad Doc was fired from this job, him and Embiid are just perfect for each other.
I'll keep saying it until proven otherwise - you need a guy to absolutely bury a lottery team at home in January, he's your guy. He'll embarrass some undersized 2nd rounder playing half assed defense better than just about anyone. You need a guy to win you a playoff game against a playoff defense? There's easily 20 guys I'd take over him, and that number is growing.
I'll keep saying it until proven otherwise - you need a guy to absolutely bury a lottery team at home in January, he's your guy. He'll embarrass some undersized 2nd rounder playing half assed defense better than just about anyone. You need a guy to win you a playoff game against a playoff defense? There's easily 20 guys I'd take over him, and that number is growing.
Embiid is such a whiner. He cried during the post game about there being too many Knicks fans in the crowd.
Embiid is dirty as hell. He "accidentally" finds a way to step on guys who are down with incredible regularity.
When Embiid started the 4th quarter, my son immediately said "he's going to be tired and useless this quarter." I don't know why Nurse thought pulling a Thibs and trying to play him the whole second half was a good idea.
To the point above, all 6'8 of Precious Achiuwa shut Embiid down after Hartenstein got his 5th foul.
Philly is basically a 2-man team. If Oubre hadn't had a huge game, this would've been a blowout.
Embiid is dirty as hell. He "accidentally" finds a way to step on guys who are down with incredible regularity.
When Embiid started the 4th quarter, my son immediately said "he's going to be tired and useless this quarter." I don't know why Nurse thought pulling a Thibs and trying to play him the whole second half was a good idea.
To the point above, all 6'8 of Precious Achiuwa shut Embiid down after Hartenstein got his 5th foul.
Philly is basically a 2-man team. If Oubre hadn't had a huge game, this would've been a blowout.
You’re preaching to the choir here.
IMO, he’s big Harden. The type of player he is on the court doesn’t win. He relies heavily on grifting and getting a favorable whistle. If he doesn’t get it, he whines, make dirty plays, and turtles.
I’m down on Tatum compared to this board but I am so happy I never have to root for someone like Joel. He’s a loser
At what point do the 76ers start thinking about ending the process and starting over with Maxey? Embiid is on the wrong side of 30. I get they have cap space next year but who is available besides LeBron that can drastically change their future. Four of the top ten free agents are their own. They have two first round picks to trade 2028 Clippers one being their best asset.
I feel like there are more buyers than sellers. I also wonder if someone goes aggressively at Jimmy Butler
I feel like there are more buyers than sellers. I also wonder if someone goes aggressively at Jimmy Butler
I don't know, PG 13 seems like he's out of Clipper land if they lose (and even if not). My strategy would be simple:
-sign George
-rest Embiid a lot during the season.
Roll your dice with that. With a healthy Embiid and the addition of PG13 this is a scary team. Not sure the former is possible any more, but certainly with plenty of rest days and playing between 25-30 minutes per game during the regular season there's a shot.
Embiid/Maxey/PG3 would be an excellent regular season team, but it's just doubling down on playoff unreliability. I think they need to give Embiid a ton of time off during the regular season (and not bitch incessantly about the 65 game limit on awards, get away from that victim mentality), but they clearly need more talent in the rest of the roster to avoid the disaster that was their regular season after Embiid went down. I'm more than skeptical that all Embiid needs is to get healthy to have playoff success, but it's the only real option that Philly has. Rebuilding around Maxey is an option I guess, but he didn't show anything this year that should lead anyone to assume he can be the face of a successful team.
I love watching the process fail year after year. I will be glad to not have to watch that clown show in another 7 game series against the Celtics.
The team right now is Maxey, Embiid, and a bunch or role players. Adding Paul George would make them a top 3 team in the east and so long as health they wouldn’t sniff the play in
Huh? There is a science to executing this play. How do you effectively look to crash, tip out to a spot up shooter when half the team doesn’t know the play or where they should rotate to on the release?