00:00What's the vibes like down in the city of brotherly love coming off that game one trouncing at the garden?
00:05So let's talk all things 76ers to get y'all ready for some game two action with Derek Botner of
00:12AllPHLY.
00:14Derek, appreciate you hopping on with us before you hop on the train or 95 to come on up here.
00:20It seems like the 76ers players, they've got some moxie to them after that loss.
00:25I mean, they've been in this situation before.
00:27They lost big to the Celtics in game one in the first round, but then they came back game two
00:34of that series and they won the entire series.
00:36So I expect them to come out swinging at the garden game two.
00:41I hate to use the phrase must win when it's not an elimination game, but would you consider this a
00:48must win game two for Philly at the garden tonight?
00:52Yeah, it's sort of weird being both around the team and around fans.
00:55There's this calm that I'm not used to seeing from this fan base.
01:00You know, they have obviously not gotten out of the second round in the Duel and Beat era.
01:04That's caused a lot of, you know, angst.
01:07But having just beaten the Celtics the way that they did and more specifically come back from a 3-1
01:11deficit the way that they did,
01:13you know, certainly nobody is looking at this series as over, even though Knicks took game one by 39 points.
01:18You know, you go back to that Celtics series, Sixers lost two of the first four games by 30 or
01:23more points.
01:23They certainly have the capability of turning it around.
01:26You know, I think they have some strategic decisions they have to make in order to do so.
01:30You know, game two is obviously very important.
01:33It's very tough to, you know, win a series if you have to come back home, you know, and win
01:37four of the next five games.
01:39But, in fact, Sixers have been there before.
01:42They've done it just, you know, a week ago against a really good opponent in their own right in the
01:47Celtics.
01:47It does give them, I think, some level of calming sense that they can do it again if need be.
01:53You talk about that calm.
01:55There's always the calm before the storm.
01:57And I feel like that storm is about to be how physical this series is about to get
02:02because there's a video out there of Mikael Bridges accidentally hitting or elbowing Embiid in the midsection
02:10where he got the appendectomy a couple of weeks ago.
02:13Embiid called it unnecessary and said that his team has to go out and be physical too.
02:19Knicks fans are still a little on edge and upset about the whole Embiid-Mitch Robinson ankle injury thing a
02:26couple of years ago.
02:27So, do you think things are about to get a lot more physical and maybe even nasty tonight and for
02:33the rest of this series?
02:36Yeah, I mean, look, I certainly think they're going to get physical.
02:38From the Sixers' perspective, they almost have to.
02:40You know, this has been a team that has not been a very good defensive rebounding team.
02:44They don't win a lot of the hustle categories.
02:46So, they're going to need to amp up their physicality if they want to compete against the New York Knicks
02:50team,
02:50which is, you know, physical by their base nature.
02:53So, yeah, I think it's going to get more physical.
02:55Is it going to get, like, cheaper or dirty?
02:57I'm not sure I see that.
02:58In part, like, Embiid can't respond because the Sixers cannot manage, you know, if he is not available to them.
03:04You know, but also, I don't think, like, if you go back and listen to the Embiid thing, he was
03:08directly asked about it.
03:09He even went out and said, like, I don't know if it's dirty or not, but I felt like it
03:13was unnecessary.
03:14It didn't seem like he was really trying to escalate the situation maybe as much as some are taking it.
03:19But it is the playoffs.
03:20We amp everything up.
03:21Fans are certainly going to amp everything up and try to motivate themselves and the team.
03:27So, yeah, I think it's going to be physical in part because it needs to be physical, in part because
03:30the Knicks play a physical game by default.
03:32And the Sixers need to match that energy.
03:34And they will, you know, like I said, give them a lot of credit for what they did against Celtics.
03:39I think they, you know, that was another team that's really good about crashing the offensive glass.
03:43They were able to take care of that in the last three games of that series.
03:45We'll need to do that in this one as well.
03:47So, when I think physical, I think fouls.
03:50I mean, it's the NBA.
03:51You can't touch anybody in this league.
03:53So, I want to play this video of Kelly Oubre talking about why Jalen Brunson is hard to guard.
03:58And then I want to get your response.
04:00How tough is Jalen Brunson to try to contain him?
04:04I don't know.
04:04I just know he has a big head.
04:09So, you know, it's definitely tough to guard him with his head, doing all that.
04:15But, yeah, I mean, he's a great player.
04:18You know, we've played against him plenty of times, many of times.
04:20And, you know, we have to make the adjustments that we see on film.
04:23But, you know, kudos to him.
04:25He came out and started the series and did what they had to do at home.
04:28And, you know, it's up to us to respond.
04:30All right, two-part, three-part question here.
04:33One, is there any stopping Jalen Brunson in this series?
04:36Two, is Jalen Brunson flailing too much?
04:40And three, does he really have a big head?
04:44Yeah, I mean, look, I certainly, Kelly is a colorful character.
04:48He's a lot of fun.
04:50You never know exactly where he's going to go when he does have an interview.
04:53You know, I think he is having some fun, and I support Kelly in doing that.
04:57But he really is a joy to cover, you know, throughout the three years he has been here.
05:01Obviously, Jalen is tough to cover for a number of ways.
05:03You know, and I thought the Sixers at some points throughout that game
05:06had some pretty good contests on his shots.
05:08You know, they clearly wanted to have their perimeter defenders
05:10play through screens on the perimeter, leave their bigs in a drop early on.
05:13And the Sixers perimeter defenders just didn't do a good enough job
05:16getting through those screens.
05:18You know, the Sixers have had some measured success,
05:20is I think the way that I would phrase it, against Brunson in the past.
05:23Both Vijay Edgecombe, I think, held Brunson to something like 42%
05:27shooting from the field, you know, throughout the course of the regular season.
05:30He had some success there.
05:31But also Kelly, in the playoff series two years ago, had some success.
05:35And again, qualified success is a way that I would phrase that,
05:38because Brunson had some games in that series where he was incredible
05:41in his own right.
05:42You know, but I think individually, they're just going to have to do a better job
05:45with their perimeter defenders.
05:46And I'm curious whether or not the Sixers change up their defensive schemes
05:49at all as well.
05:50Because when you give him, you know, a couple open shots early,
05:53you know, with the bigs pretty deep in a drop,
05:55let him see the ball go through the rim,
05:58he has a real chance to have a big night like he did.
06:01Do you bring Embiid farther up, closer to the screen,
06:03so he can contest that a little bit better?
06:05Is he physically capable of doing that after a grueling series against the Celtics?
06:08Or do you maybe move Embiid off of him like you did a couple years ago?
06:11Obviously, Josh Hart has leveled up as a shooter.
06:14He is the only one who you would even consider, you know,
06:16switching Embiid off onto.
06:18But like I said, he's gotten much better as a shooter,
06:20obviously has grown as a passer and a second-year creator.
06:23So that's going to be a little bit tough.
06:24I'm interested to see what the Sixers decide to do.
06:27Jalen Brunson has had success against the Sixers,
06:30but Tyrese Maxey has been an absolute Knicks killer the past couple of years.
06:35I'm going to read off some stats for you.
06:372024 playoffs, he averaged around 29-7-5.
06:41And this year's regular season, it was 35-4.
06:45Game one, he was held to 13-2-3.
06:49We're all expecting a bounce-back game from Tyrese Maxey.
06:53So how do you think Nick Nurse gets more out of Maxey in game two?
06:58Yeah, it's a great question because that was very much not a Tyrese Maxey performance in game one.
07:04I think everyone was a little surprised by that.
07:05He has gone through moments, especially since Joel Embiid has returned,
07:09but really throughout the last couple of weeks of the regular season as well,
07:12where he has deferred a little bit too much in the first half of games.
07:16He really tries to get his teammates going, and then he will pick his spots in the second half to
07:20have his big night.
07:21Unfortunately, by the time the second half rolled around, game one was no longer a real contest.
07:25So I think he's going to have to be more aggressive right from the jump,
07:28in part because I think you need to get Brunson more involved as a defender,
07:32both because he is their weakest league defensively,
07:34but also just because you need him to expend a lot more energy on that end.
07:38So maybe he's a little less fresh on the other end.
07:41I think the Sixers just did a really bad job of letting Brunson just hang out on the corner against
07:45Kelly Oubre and Quinton Grimes
07:47and didn't really challenge him, didn't really force the switches they need to do to, like I said,
07:51not only attack the weak defender, but also wear out New York's most important offensive player.
07:56So I think they need to do a better job of that.
07:57Tyrese is going to be a significant part of that.
08:00He is a player who he cannot sit around and wait until the second half to get going.
08:05The Sixers want to have a real chance here in game two and in the series,
08:09and I think he's capable of that.
08:10He had a tendon strain in his shooting hand, which I think impacted his shot and his willingness
08:17and probably more than anything his confidence in that shot for a couple weeks after that injury.
08:22He looked like he was starting to turn that around in the Boston series,
08:24and I expect him to be a lot more aggressive here in game two.
08:28Earlier I'd ask you if this was a must-win game two for the 76ers in terms of the basketball
08:34part of the series.
08:35Now I want to get your thoughts on it from the fan base side of things because remember after they
08:40beat Boston game seven,
08:43Embiid kind of pleaded with Philly fans not to sell those tickets to Knicks fans.
08:48Do you think what happens tonight in game two determines if Philly fans sell their tickets for games three and
08:56four at home?
08:57Yeah, I mean, look, New York fans travel, and especially with how costly it is up at MSG,
09:04like a little train ride down here to Philly makes a lot of sense for a lot of people,
09:08and I expect that to still be the case no matter what.
09:10You know, if the Sixers win game two, like tickets are going to be expensive,
09:15which might motivate some people to sell their tickets because there's a lot of profit to be made.
09:21I expect New York fans to travel well.
09:23I expect that to happen regardless of what happens here tonight,
09:26and I expect that to be something the Sixers have to handle and navigate through because, like I said,
09:32I do expect them to travel.
09:33All right, let's get your prediction on the series.
09:35Knicks in or 76ers in?
09:40Yeah, originally coming in the season or series, I said I think it's going to go seven games.
09:45I still probably think it's going to go six or seven.
09:47I would lean right now, based on what we saw in game one, slightly towards the Knicks.
09:51You know, I worry about the Sixers' depth being able to withstand a longer series for a second series in
09:58a row.
09:58You know, they really have their top four players, and after that, it gets pretty dicey pretty quickly in terms
10:03of Kelly Oubre.
10:04Quinton Grimes are going to be part of the every-night rotation, but they have been very up and down
10:08in these playoffs,
10:08and after that, you have no idea where to go, and I do worry not only about the game one
10:13loss,
10:14but out of the Sixers' ability to, you know, really maintain being fresh and having the kind of energy,
10:20they're going to need to expend against a really tough Knicks squad.
10:24So I would go seven games still.
10:26I do think the Sixers are going to have a couple of games where their big four are just, you
10:30know,
10:30unconscious from the perimeter, really can't be stopped, but I do worry about the matchup.
10:34So I would go seven.
10:36Coming into the series, I thought it was pretty much a toss-up.
10:38After game one, I will lean slightly Knicks.
10:40All right, Derek, appreciate you hopping on with us, man.
10:42Safe travels up here, and I'll see you tonight at the Garden.
10:46Sounds good. Thank you.
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