Game Day: Knicks @ Sixers, 3/16/21

The Knicks head to Philly for the second game of their close-to-home road back-to-back to take on the Sixers, who have won nine of their last 11 games. But without Joel Embiid active, can the Knicks take advantage?

I still find myself getting over last night’s loss, but here we are, against another top two team in the East, and this one ain’t two.

Much like the Nets without Kevin Durant, the Sixers are without Joel Embiid, but still plenty formidable. It could be reasonably argued that Philly is less able to absorb losing Embiid smoothly than Brooklyn is to losing KD… but tell that to the Spurs and Bulls, who lost by a combined 57 points to the Sixers in the last two games that Embiid’s been out.

In fact, the Sixers have had an average margin of victory of 21.4 points on their current five-game winning streak, and they’re averaging 129.8 points per game, well above their season’s average of 115.8. Simply put, Philly is rolling right now, and the Knicks just had to take a ride across New Jersey overnight to go play there after a number of key players logged 40-plus minutes in Brooklyn. Philly is on two days’ rest after that home win against the Spurs on Sunday. In other words, this could get ugly.

Hopefully, win or lose, the new starting trio of Immanuel Quickley, Julius Randle, and RJ Barrett keep building chemistry. However, it would also be nice if Tom Thibodeau could avoid his usual platoon swap where he puts in five reserve players all at once. That just doesn’t fly against the best teams the Knicks face, and the Sixers certainly qualify as that. Learning to stagger IQ, Julius, and RJ — while still allowing them plenty of time together on the court at the start and finish of halves — could be the key for the Knicks the rest of the year.

At any rate, game starts at 8 PM on MSG. Feel free to comment along on here or hang with us on Twitter!