As if blowing a 3-1 lead and losing in the first round wasn’t bad enough for Celtics fans, they’re now stuck watching a lose-lose second-round matchup between the hated 76ers and Knicks. There’s no good outcome for Boston fans at this point, so if anything, you’d want to see these teams beat each other up enough that the winner is vulnerable in the conference finals.
It has only been one game, but if Game 1 was any indication, that’s not going to be the case, as the Knicks absolutely destroyed Philly, 137-98, in a game that was over by halftime.
Knicks’ success against 76ers makes Boston’s failures even more painful
It’s always painful to see the Knicks win, but it was extra painful watching this Sixers team totally fall apart. They played three near-perfect basketball games to come from behind and take down the Celtics, and now, with that series in the rearview, they no-showed Game 1 in New York, looking extremely beatable.
And all the things that the Celtics weren’t able to do seemed to come easy to the Knicks. They relentlessly targeted Joel Embiid and kept the Sixers’ defense in rotation all night, carving them up for 34 assists, leading to some great looks and 19-37 three-point shooting.
They were also able to turn Philly over a whopping 19 times, and held Tyrese Maxey and Joel Embiid to just 27 points combined.
Don’t count Sixers out after one game
But as bad as this one looked, we should have learned a lesson from the last round. The Sixers limped into this game, exhausted after their seven-game battle with Boston, forced to go in New York just two days later, facing a Knicks team that has been sitting at home, resting, since wrapping up their series last Thursday.
We just saw the Sixers come into Boston for Game 1 and get spanked by 32, only to bounce back and steal Game 2 before ultimately winning the series. I’m not saying the same thing is going to happen, as this Knicks team is rolling right now, and looks worlds better than the Celtics did at any point during these playoffs.
But a lot can change from one game to another in the playoffs, and this Sixers team is far from dead. At the end of the day, regardless of the margin, it’s just one game, and Philly has another chance to seize homecourt advantage in Game 2.Â
Regardless of how the rest of the series plays out, it was extremely frustrating to watch a team dismantle the Sixers in ways that the Celtics were unable to do when it mattered.
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