Josh Hart shrugged off the question — because no one cares about first-round playoff series victories.
The Knicks have made it to the second round now four postseasons in a row. Some franchises would trade an arm and a leg — or the equivalent in draft picks — to swap spots with the Knicks in a heartbeat.
But it means nothing at Madison Square Garden.
“Not a damn thing, ‘cause that’s not the goal,” Hart told reporters after practice in Tarrytown on Sunday. “The goal isn’t to advance through one series or two series. That’s not a goal that we have individuals or as a team. So to be honest, that’s pretty irrelevant. We’ve gotta make sure do what we’re supposed to do and we focus on advancing through this series. Down the road, hopefully we can appreciate that stat but as of right now it’s pretty irrelevant.”
The goal at The Garden is reach the NBA Finals — bonus points if the Knicks can win an NBA title. The Knicks rolled through their first-round challenge, a scrappy Atlanta Hawks team that forced head coach Mike Brown to change his offense midway through the series.
This round is different.
Round 2 is all about Joel Embiid, plus his co-stars: Tyrese Maxey and emerging star V.J. Edgecombe. It’s all about Karl-Anthony Towns, Jalen Brunson and how Brown tweaks his defense to handle a former league MVP who could be in the best shape of his playing career despite nursing a clear leg injury from Game 7 against the Celtics.
Sixers head coach Nick Nurse gave a scouting report immediately after eliminating Boston on Saturday.
“What did we go 2-2 against [the Knicks]? Nobody could win at home? Yeah we’ve played them a lot. It seems like it’s been a while now, though, this season,” he said. “I mean, listen: I think they’re very good. I think their starting lineup is incredible. I think they’ve continued to bolster their bench. I think they can play in a variety of ways: They can play one-big, two bigs. Brunson’s obviously a big problem. The rebounding’s a big problem. [They’re] a much bigger team in general all-around than [the Celtics]. I think they’re very, very good, and it’s gonna be a tremendous challenge.”
RETURN OF EMBIID
Boston Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla wasn’t expecting this kind of pain, but his demeanor resembled that of a wounded animal after blowing a 3-1 series lead, all ensuing defeats coming after Embiid returned to the floor for the 76ers in the middle of the first round of the playoffs.
Embiid underwent a successful appendectomy on April 9, missed Philadelphia’s final regular season games plus Games 1 through 3 of their first-round series, then returned for Game 4 in what would be Boston’s final victory of the series. Just over two weeks removed from surgery, he averaged 28 points, nine rebounds and seven assists to stun the Celtics in the first round.
Now, he’s the Knicks’ problem, and we’re about to find out if Mike Brown and his staff has solutions. Embiid had 38 points, 11 rebounds and five assists against the Knicks on Jan. 24, but his Sixers lost that game by three. He had 26 points, 10 rebounds and five assists in an 11-point win over the Knicks on Jan. 3.
The defense on Embiid will begin with Karl-Anthony Towns, but make no mistake, it will end with Mitchell Robinson, the Knicks’ enforcer and defensive anchor who’s adopted an additional willingness to “stand on business” for his team.
Robinson has averaged 7.7 points, 7.1 rebounds and 1.9 blocks over 11 regular-season games against Embiid in his career.
“[Robinson] can be big [for us],” head coach Mike Brown told reporters after practice on Sunday. “Mitch is unique, so no matter who we play, Mitch is extremely important to what we’re trying to do — the way he offensive-rebounds, the way he’s a vertical threat in the pick-and-roll game, the way he protects the rim, his versatility guarding — he can switch onto some ones and some twos. He can’t guard those guys whole possessions, but he can switch onto those guys and make it tough.
“All that stuff is extremely important for us this series or no matter who we play, so we need him to bring it at a high level, as well as everyone else.”
SLOW IT DOWN
Josh Hart’s internal dialogue generated a grand plan to combat the Sixers’ speed demon, Tyrese Maxey.
“Probably just asking Tyrese to slow down a little bit,” said Hart. “That’d be nice.”
In the first round, Hart essentially split defensive responsibilities defending emerging star Jalen Johnson and 34-year-old crafty vet C.J. McCollum.
Entering Round 2, the Knicks know most of what they deployed on the defensive end against the Hawks is going out the window.
“The style defensively is going to be totally different,” Hart continued. “CJ, he doesn’t have that quick acceleration at his old age. You can be a little bit more physical with him. He’s an unc.”
For the Sixers, the 25-year-old Maxey just earned his second career All-Star nod and averaged 28.3 points on nearly nine 3-point attempts a night before scoring 29 or more points in four of Philadelphia’s seven first-round games against the Celtics. Plus rookie V.J. Edgecombe, who’ll be hounding Jalen Brunson on one end, is a dynamic athlete who averaged 19.3 points in his four matchups against the Knicks this season.
“Tyrese and Edgecombe, they’re on the young side, man. They’re quicker, explosive. So it’s definitely a different style of defense,” said Hart. “Like I said, hopefully I can tell [Maxey] to slow down so I can get my hands on him and be physical. But it’s a fun matchup.”
UNIQUE WING
Goodbye Dyson Daniels. Hello V.J. Edgecombe. Life never gets easier when you’re Jalen Brunson.
Brunson averaged 25.2 points in nine games against Daniels over his NBA career. In fur games against Edgecombe this season alone, he’s averaging 23 points and is shooting 42.5% from the field.
It gets worse, Edgecombe, according to NBA tracking data, was the primary defender on Brunson for 106 total possessions during the regular season. Only Daniels spent more time defending Brunson this season, and the Sixers’ rookie held him to under 42% shooting on those individual matchups.
Edgecombe is a dog. There’s no way around it. And he’s going to make Brunson work for every bucket he’s assigned to defend. Whether Brunson opts to go through or circumvent this challenge will dictate offensive flow for the team, much like it did in the first round against Daniels and the Hawks.
The Knicks have an advantage elsewhere on the floor: OG Anunoby has a blend of size, strength and athleticism the Sixers wing combination of Kelly Oubre Jr. and Paul Geroge can’t match. Plus the Knicks will move him around on defense. Anunoby will guard Embiid, Maxey and everyone else in-between.
“OG is just unique and special. He gives us, like Josh, the ability to throw different defenses at our opponents. He can guard [all five positions], and we always try to mix it up with him. He did that the last series guarding [Hawks center Onyeka] Okongwu at times, and we’ll continue to try to do it going forward,” said brown. “So wherever we need to adjust, no matter who he’s guarding, at this point in the season, we have a pretty good feel of what we need to do to shore up this area, shore up that area or help him when he’s guarding this point guard or guarding this center.”
