Thanks Jon for referencing Red Holzman and the championship teams. Older fans like myself have been waiting 50 years for the feeling Red's teams gave us, and finally our patience has been rewarded. One similarity is I expect the Knicks to win because they will find a way, no matter what is going on.
I'm not sure if OG on Maxey is the right match-up, and we can't let Lowery (or there other vets) go off again but 55-33 in rebounds tells you who the toughest, hardest working team in the league is.
Josh Hart hit the same exact shot last year against the Cavs in Game 1. Apparently, he is the greatest shooter of all time in late-game late-shot clock Game 1s of the 1st round. And Mitchell Robinson, what a performance. So many people wrote him off because of his injuries and how good Hartenstein is/has been. However Mitch is a key part of this team. Brunson had a poor shooting game and that was the first time OG had a - +/- as a Knick. DDV and Hartenstein were not great, and yet the team still won the game. All in all, I am cautiously optimistic moving forward.
One more thing: when the Knicks traded for OG, one of the topics of conversation was the idea of playing him with Mitch. Well how about pairing those 2 with Deuce as well? Elite three-level defense. And you know who benefited from being out there with those guys? Bogey. That guy wanted to be on this stage and in this moment. You could tell he was ready for it.
No advanced stats, 5 man splits or other minutiae can predictively quantify this Knicks team this year. If you want to understand this team and how far it can go you gotta believe what you see and view them with your heart (no pun intended). I love this article because what it says is what I (and many others see) which is this team Believes in its self and in each other. You can see it in their play, hear it in their speech and feel it in their quiet swagger. They've believed even when Knicks fans haven't always believed during stretches this year, they've believed when Media pundits and NBA past players have doubted their ceiling, the talent level of their players and their coach and they believe now when they hear about how even a match-up these two teams are knowing how uneven a season series it's been with or without Embid in the line-up.
If you've ever seen the Watchman movie from 2009, there is the scene where the Rorschach character is in prison surrounded by prisoners who want to kill him and after fighting off an attack he yells to the cafeteria "None of you seem to understand. I'm not locked in here with you...you're locked in here with me!". That's exactly how this Knicks team plays. The Knicks are not locked in a series with the Joel Embid 76ers - The Joel Embid 76ers are locked in a series with the #2 seed New York Knicks. Embid and Maxey are great players and will get their points (if both of them average close to 30 each this series I would not be surprised). Two players are not a team. To me the Eastern Conference has 3 real "teams" (in contrast to a bunch of players wearing the same uniforms) this year; the Knicks, Celtics and Heat. While the Heat are always a tough out (Heat culture is as real as the Knicks Culture the team has been building for the past 4 years) and would make me nervous as a fan to play them in a series, the only team in the Eastern Conference that the Knicks should be legitimate underdogs against this year is the C's. If you believe that as I do from watching this team all year and you believe what you see every night - calling this a 5 game series at most with the Knicks advancing is not a hard call. It's not disrespect to "the reigning MVP" or the 76ers in general - The Knicks are a much better "Team" as this article beautifully expresses.
Love this team, the vibe in MSG, waking up to John’s write-up and the Game One W. This was a rollercoaster of game with Sixers silencing the hyped up crowd with tremendous D in the 1st and 3rd despite the nirvana of a 33-12 2nd Quarter. The Embiid Superman Dunk was a sight to be seen in person and looked look to be a series ending injury until is wasn’t. What a night for Deuce and these Knicks, such a joy to root for them.
It was Deuce’s Superman cap tonight. Kudos to him for saving the game, to Josh for finding his confidence and coming up big in the 4th, to Bogey for playing aggressively and knocking down shots in the big spot, to Mitch for regaining his early season form and to OG for being the OG we need on both sides of the court.
The Knicks are obviously in a great position to take the series, but much work remains to be done and Philly was 25-16 at home with Embiid missing half the season.
Brunson won't have another game like this in the series. 76ers needed to steal that one but Deuce, Hart and Mitch had other plans. And if we have Bogey average around 15 PPG that will be enough each night to get the W. Love this team #whynotnow
In any playoff series winning game one is massive, with the way Embid may decline with his knee, it make it even more important.
This team, unlike a lot of teams recently with Superstar players, can win in any number of ways, we saw that last night. It's sure as hell a fun team to root for.
Now it's the Rangers turn...not sure my heart can take back-to-back nights of playoffs.
Nice one, Jon! I particularly liked the line contrasting individual awards and championships. This is where chemistry lives - it’s in making the whole greater than the sum of the parts. I’m old, as you know. But I can’t claim to have been able to analyze what I saw/listened to on radio in the Championship days. All I remember was a deep and abiding faith that the team would pull together. They could lose, but could not be beat. The how of it escaped me, but the feeling did not. These days I feel the same, and the how is obvious. I’ll regret when the storybook season ends (even in June) but I’m certain the structure, culture and characters are in place for the inevitable sequel
I have never commented on your articles before but today I have to. As someone who cheered on the championship teams as a child, this was the best article you have written. And I’ve read them all. Good work Jon!
While there was some thought that maybe Embiid would round into shape during the series, I think the version we saw last night is as good as it’ll get - which is still darn good, but missing something. He needs an offseason of recovery to reach his peak. A key will be to keep him moving on defense and the boards as much as possible to wear him down. Hopefully with IHart and Mitch we can play him straight up as much as possible. I was particularly impressed with how Mitch avoided biting on the head fakes from the mid-range. I’m curious how we start out on Maxey in game 2. I assume OG will get the assignment but I’m wondering if it’s worth giving Donte a shot and let OG slough off Oubre. And I know Lowry has the history of killing us, but have to figure that will even out eventually. Maybe?
Typically the team that loses game 1 will make adjustments but in this case I doubt that Philly mixes things up defensively as Brunson struggled. That could low key work to our advantage because while Oubre’s size presents issues, it also seemed as if Brunson was just a bit out of rhythm and his touch was off, perhaps from the week off. He’ll figure it out.
You could see this team coming...once they acquired DeBusc....I mean OG there it was...too bad Randle is out....BUT I love this team!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Rooting for a team in the Holzman sense is so much more gratifying than in the phoenix sun sense. Hart talked about the importance of not thinking and it dovetails with what I’ve noticed, he seems to hit a higher % of “big” threes than ones that don’t seem to have as much importance. Now it makes sense, he’s just more locked in.
Going forward, I am much more worried about the O than the D. Oubre also held Brunson to 6-22 shooting in the March 10 game. Other bigs have guarded Brunson but Oubre has been the most effective I can remember . I think we can give up 60 points a game to Embiid and Maxey and still win the series if we score. The 76ers can get, on any given night, a big game from Lowery, Harris, Hield or Oubre, but it seems only one or two of them go off on any given night. So I think we can limit their offense even if we can’t stop the big two.
But Counting on Josh and Deuce for 40 points a night is not something I am comfortable with. So they will have to figure out how to help Brunson. It seemed like even when the Knicks successfully picked and caused Oubre to switch, the 6ers still had two on JB
I'm just waking up, after staying up and watching Ryan Garcia whip Devin Haney's ass: and this newsletter had me crying like a lil beotch! Mac, you too are getting better as the season winds down bruh!
Thanks Jon for referencing Red Holzman and the championship teams. Older fans like myself have been waiting 50 years for the feeling Red's teams gave us, and finally our patience has been rewarded. One similarity is I expect the Knicks to win because they will find a way, no matter what is going on.
I'm not sure if OG on Maxey is the right match-up, and we can't let Lowery (or there other vets) go off again but 55-33 in rebounds tells you who the toughest, hardest working team in the league is.
Josh Hart hit the same exact shot last year against the Cavs in Game 1. Apparently, he is the greatest shooter of all time in late-game late-shot clock Game 1s of the 1st round. And Mitchell Robinson, what a performance. So many people wrote him off because of his injuries and how good Hartenstein is/has been. However Mitch is a key part of this team. Brunson had a poor shooting game and that was the first time OG had a - +/- as a Knick. DDV and Hartenstein were not great, and yet the team still won the game. All in all, I am cautiously optimistic moving forward.
One more thing: when the Knicks traded for OG, one of the topics of conversation was the idea of playing him with Mitch. Well how about pairing those 2 with Deuce as well? Elite three-level defense. And you know who benefited from being out there with those guys? Bogey. That guy wanted to be on this stage and in this moment. You could tell he was ready for it.
This.
No advanced stats, 5 man splits or other minutiae can predictively quantify this Knicks team this year. If you want to understand this team and how far it can go you gotta believe what you see and view them with your heart (no pun intended). I love this article because what it says is what I (and many others see) which is this team Believes in its self and in each other. You can see it in their play, hear it in their speech and feel it in their quiet swagger. They've believed even when Knicks fans haven't always believed during stretches this year, they've believed when Media pundits and NBA past players have doubted their ceiling, the talent level of their players and their coach and they believe now when they hear about how even a match-up these two teams are knowing how uneven a season series it's been with or without Embid in the line-up.
If you've ever seen the Watchman movie from 2009, there is the scene where the Rorschach character is in prison surrounded by prisoners who want to kill him and after fighting off an attack he yells to the cafeteria "None of you seem to understand. I'm not locked in here with you...you're locked in here with me!". That's exactly how this Knicks team plays. The Knicks are not locked in a series with the Joel Embid 76ers - The Joel Embid 76ers are locked in a series with the #2 seed New York Knicks. Embid and Maxey are great players and will get their points (if both of them average close to 30 each this series I would not be surprised). Two players are not a team. To me the Eastern Conference has 3 real "teams" (in contrast to a bunch of players wearing the same uniforms) this year; the Knicks, Celtics and Heat. While the Heat are always a tough out (Heat culture is as real as the Knicks Culture the team has been building for the past 4 years) and would make me nervous as a fan to play them in a series, the only team in the Eastern Conference that the Knicks should be legitimate underdogs against this year is the C's. If you believe that as I do from watching this team all year and you believe what you see every night - calling this a 5 game series at most with the Knicks advancing is not a hard call. It's not disrespect to "the reigning MVP" or the 76ers in general - The Knicks are a much better "Team" as this article beautifully expresses.
LFGK.....
Love this team, the vibe in MSG, waking up to John’s write-up and the Game One W. This was a rollercoaster of game with Sixers silencing the hyped up crowd with tremendous D in the 1st and 3rd despite the nirvana of a 33-12 2nd Quarter. The Embiid Superman Dunk was a sight to be seen in person and looked look to be a series ending injury until is wasn’t. What a night for Deuce and these Knicks, such a joy to root for them.
It was Deuce’s Superman cap tonight. Kudos to him for saving the game, to Josh for finding his confidence and coming up big in the 4th, to Bogey for playing aggressively and knocking down shots in the big spot, to Mitch for regaining his early season form and to OG for being the OG we need on both sides of the court.
The Knicks are obviously in a great position to take the series, but much work remains to be done and Philly was 25-16 at home with Embiid missing half the season.
Go NY, Go NY, Go!
Brunson won't have another game like this in the series. 76ers needed to steal that one but Deuce, Hart and Mitch had other plans. And if we have Bogey average around 15 PPG that will be enough each night to get the W. Love this team #whynotnow
It’s so cool that even after trading away RJ, Quickley, Grimes, and Obi we still have a couple of homegrown guys making an impact in the playoffs.
I can’t say enough about Deuce. I’m so impressed with him. I remember last year having so many concerns about his offense. Wild what he’s become
Beautiful piece of work this morning. He stayed a bit too long with the starters in the third, but you knew that. All eyes on Monday. One at a time
In any playoff series winning game one is massive, with the way Embid may decline with his knee, it make it even more important.
This team, unlike a lot of teams recently with Superstar players, can win in any number of ways, we saw that last night. It's sure as hell a fun team to root for.
Now it's the Rangers turn...not sure my heart can take back-to-back nights of playoffs.
Thanks for the extra edition Macri!
Nice one, Jon! I particularly liked the line contrasting individual awards and championships. This is where chemistry lives - it’s in making the whole greater than the sum of the parts. I’m old, as you know. But I can’t claim to have been able to analyze what I saw/listened to on radio in the Championship days. All I remember was a deep and abiding faith that the team would pull together. They could lose, but could not be beat. The how of it escaped me, but the feeling did not. These days I feel the same, and the how is obvious. I’ll regret when the storybook season ends (even in June) but I’m certain the structure, culture and characters are in place for the inevitable sequel
I have never commented on your articles before but today I have to. As someone who cheered on the championship teams as a child, this was the best article you have written. And I’ve read them all. Good work Jon!
Great article as always, Jon! Thanks!
While there was some thought that maybe Embiid would round into shape during the series, I think the version we saw last night is as good as it’ll get - which is still darn good, but missing something. He needs an offseason of recovery to reach his peak. A key will be to keep him moving on defense and the boards as much as possible to wear him down. Hopefully with IHart and Mitch we can play him straight up as much as possible. I was particularly impressed with how Mitch avoided biting on the head fakes from the mid-range. I’m curious how we start out on Maxey in game 2. I assume OG will get the assignment but I’m wondering if it’s worth giving Donte a shot and let OG slough off Oubre. And I know Lowry has the history of killing us, but have to figure that will even out eventually. Maybe?
Typically the team that loses game 1 will make adjustments but in this case I doubt that Philly mixes things up defensively as Brunson struggled. That could low key work to our advantage because while Oubre’s size presents issues, it also seemed as if Brunson was just a bit out of rhythm and his touch was off, perhaps from the week off. He’ll figure it out.
Huge win. Let’s take game 2.
Thanks so much, Jon, for the extra newsletter. Great read!
You could see this team coming...once they acquired DeBusc....I mean OG there it was...too bad Randle is out....BUT I love this team!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Great write up, thank you!
Rooting for a team in the Holzman sense is so much more gratifying than in the phoenix sun sense. Hart talked about the importance of not thinking and it dovetails with what I’ve noticed, he seems to hit a higher % of “big” threes than ones that don’t seem to have as much importance. Now it makes sense, he’s just more locked in.
So much fun to root for this team!!!
Going forward, I am much more worried about the O than the D. Oubre also held Brunson to 6-22 shooting in the March 10 game. Other bigs have guarded Brunson but Oubre has been the most effective I can remember . I think we can give up 60 points a game to Embiid and Maxey and still win the series if we score. The 76ers can get, on any given night, a big game from Lowery, Harris, Hield or Oubre, but it seems only one or two of them go off on any given night. So I think we can limit their offense even if we can’t stop the big two.
But Counting on Josh and Deuce for 40 points a night is not something I am comfortable with. So they will have to figure out how to help Brunson. It seemed like even when the Knicks successfully picked and caused Oubre to switch, the 6ers still had two on JB
I'm just waking up, after staying up and watching Ryan Garcia whip Devin Haney's ass: and this newsletter had me crying like a lil beotch! Mac, you too are getting better as the season winds down bruh!