Hoops Tonight - Knicks-76ers Reaction: Brunson TAKES OVER, NY knocks out Embiid & Sixers in Game 6

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guys are having an incredible week so far. Well, yet another completely bizarre game to finish a completely bizarre series, as the New York Knicks are advancing to the second round to take on the Indiana Pacers, who closed the

deal against the Milwaukee Bucks earlier. Tonight, we're gonna be breaking down both of those series from the perspective of both teams and looking forward for all four of those teams as we had into the second round and also into an off season full of question marks for both the Sixers and the Bucks. You guys know the joke before we gets hard. It's subscribe to a brand new YouTube channel so you don't miss any more of our videos. Follow me on Twitter at underscore jsonn lts you guys

don't miss you announcement. So forget about a podcast feed wherever you get your podcast under hoops tonight. And then, last but not least, keep dropping mailbag questions in those YouTube comments so we can keep hitting mailbags throughout the rest of the season. So that was probably the most bizarre game of the series in terms of the entirety of the game. Obviously we've had some crazier finishes, although that was a pretty crazy finish in and of itself.

But this game, man like, we come out the gates and it's classic Knicks, right. They just look tougher. They look like the team that's playing harder, moving quicker to the ball. They're shooting more confidently, brunts and hitting shots. Devincenzo's hitting shots out the gate. They're forcing turnovers, they're getting out in transition. They go up by twenty points early, right, and it looks like, okay, here we go, Nick are

the better team. They're gonna run away with this one. Nope, campaign comes in makes a couple of hustle plays, hits a couple of shots. All of a sudden, there's some

energy in the arena. Buddy healed, gets going. We get a really really productive stretch from Joel Embiid off of the left block where he's handling double teams well and getting good, quick, decisive reads out that are getting swung around to the corner for Buddy to hit shots, and all of a sudden, it the game's tied, and all of a sudden, the Sixers take a little bit of a lead and we go into halftime and the Sixers are up by three, and it's like fifty four to

fifty one in a game where both teams seemed like completely and totally shook at different parts in the game. Early in the game, the Sixers look completely caught off guard. They were on their heels. They look dead to right. In that second quarter run, the Knicks looked like they were dead to right. So they looked like they couldn't score. They looked like they couldn't get a stop. They were getting outrano transition. It was getting really ugly. Then we

had into this third quarter stretch. Joel inbe comes out hits two threes immediately. He kind of figures out that Isaiah Hartenstein can't stop his left shoulder hook, and the at that point in the game, the Knicks stopped doubling him because they had been burned a few times by threes on the weak side. Although I thought it was interesting because Buddy Hill wasn't even in the game at that point while they were letting and be go to work.

I think the Sixers went up by as much as seven in the middle of the third quarter if I remember correctly, and then honestly, what I thought was the biggest change in the game in terms of like shifting things back, because basically for the second half of the first half as well as like starting with that end of the first quarter, stretching into that second quarter, run into the first stretch of the third quarter, the Sixers were like a runaway freight train and it felt like

nobody could stop them, right and then Mitchell Robinson came in, and Mitchell Robinson, as we've talked about a bunch over the course of this series, is basically the only guy on the team that can credibly defend Joel Embiid, and we talked about some of the specifics involving his size and Mitch has always been really good at bothering jump shots. This has been something I've been kind of pointing out over the course of the season in some of our

film sessions. He gives great effort, He gives great contests. He has a great concept of timing when it comes to jump shot release right, so he could kind of close the gap on Himbiid to take away the jumper while also meeting him in spots and taking contact. He slowed down Embiid, and when he slowed down Embiid, it allowed the Knicks to get stops and to get out going the other way. And then a couple of timely

offensive contributions. Oji Annobi had some contributions. Josh Hart was one of the guys during the sixers run that just seemed like, hell no, we are not going to lose control of this game. You could just feel Josh Hart fighting and scratching and clawing for everything during that stretch. I thought Duce McBride had a nice hit a several big shots, but hit a massive pull up three in the early fourth quarter, just kind of lingered around right

and kind of stayed in the game. And then Brunson comes in the fourth quarter and just goes classic vintage Jalen Brunson. All of a sudden, the Nicks build a little bit of a lead, but of course, just like everything else in this series, that's not safe. The Sixers go on another improbable late game run, more heroics from Tyrese Maxis. He gets a driving and one on a goaltend to tie the game. All of a sudden, we're tied, right But the interesting basketball dynamic at the end of

the game. Nick Nurse got sick of watching Jalen Brunson go to work, and so he just started double teaming it. And on that final possession there was a double team. Brunson gets rid of the ball, quick gets another DHO and just drags both defenders as far off to the left as he possibly can. And again him getting that head of steam and dragging those defenders a good solid

fifteen twenty feet off to the left. That pulled both defenders with them and cleared a giant window there for Josh Hart at the top of the key, and he had all damn day to stare that shot down, and he sunk it, and the Knicks got to stop, and then finally they made their free throws. And making their free throws was enough to close the deal. Honestly, really really impressive resilience from that Knicks team, and we all

know that they're an exceptionally tough team. That's why Knicks fans love this particular group so much, and honestly, like we knew that going into the series. One of the things I talked about in this series is that the Sixers have like better half court shot creation, but the Knicks are a tougher team. And like early on in the series, I actually picked the Sixers to win because I thought the Sixers half court shot creation would be enough to make up that gap. But nope, the toughness

one time and time again. They had twenty more offensive rebounds tonight, just unbelievable resilience and that was more than enough to make up for the maxi MB two man game. Again, Like, I can't say enough about Mitchell Robinson in that third quarter run. I'm sure you guys felt that as Knicks fans,

it felt like it was going off the rails. It felt like it was getting ugly, and Mitchell Robinson came in, slowed him beat down and kind of like got that momentum wave back under control, which allowed some of the more, you know, the consistent knicks that we expect to make plays, to start making plays and kind of regain control of the game. Jalen Brunson in the last four games, Remember the first two games, how the Sixers looked like they

pretty much had him locked up. In the last four games, Brunston goes thirty nine, forty seven, forty and forty one. That is completely absurd. What did that cut? What does that average out to forty two points per game over the course of the last four games of the series. Just ridiculous. And again, like people are gonna talk about efficiency, but you can't really look too much into that. The don't really have reliable shot creation outside of him, and

so so much depends on Jalen Brunson just putting up shots. Again, like people used to say the same thing about Alan Iverson on the Philadelphia seventy six ers, and it's like, if you look at the way those teams are constructed, they're built around defense and hustle, and you need this singular person to kind of eat up usage at the expense of his efficiency, and he's done an amazing job of that for this next team after Julius Randall went down.

I can't say enough about Jalen Brunson, just clutch shot after clutch shot, clutch free throws at the end of the game, just an unbelievable performance. Looking forward at the next round, I actually really like the Pacers matchup. Ironically, had the Sixers somehow found a way to win this series,

I would have picked the Pacers over the Sixers. They just have a couple of very specific advantages between just their speed and their ability to get up and down the floor in transition, which is something the Sixers can struggle with. Also, just Miles Turner as a pick and pop big and some of the problems that can cause for a team that wants to keep him beat around the rim. Like all these different things, but the Pacers

are a really good matchup for the Knicks. The Knicks have the speed at guard to kind of handle their up and down pace of play. They are a very physically imposing team, and the Pacers are a little bit on the thin and slight side. And the most importantly, the Pacers have been a bad defensive rebounding team all season.

They did an okay job against the Milwaukee Bucks. I think they had a seventy three percent defensive rebound percentage, which is not bad, but for the majority of the regular season, they were like atrociously bad before the Siakam trade and still bottom ten after the Siacame trade. So they're not a good defensive rebounding team. And so we're gonna work. I have a tomorrow morning, I'm gonna start prepping on this series, and we'll have a full series

preview with film and all the usual stuff. But just like my initial impressions on a Knicks Pacer series, I lean heavily towards the Knicks. I think it's just a bad matchup for the Pacers. I think they're gonna be able to do a lot. I think they're gonna be able to do a lot to the to the Pacers, especially on the defensive end of the floor, just crashing that offensive glass and just being the physically imposing team

that they are. Again, keep an eye on the feeds over the course the next couple of days, we'll have a breakdown on the Sixers front. Obviously feels a little bit like a lost season, right Joel Embiid was playing hurt in that series. I mean, there's a lot to talk about with Embiid in terms of like what he

was and wasn't able to do in this series. There's a certain amount of like, yeah, he's hurt, and that's gonna affect his ability to get up and down the floor and transition, his ability to impact the game defensively, his ability to really put his head down and get

close to the rim. But there also were like these wild oscillations back and forth between how comfortable he was creating shots and how comfortable he and how when he wasn't right, Like I mean, just look at tonight, he just was eating them alive off of that left block, getting to that little left shoulder hook and making kickout passes. And then in Game five he was just like incapable of that stuff. And so there's still some things that I think Embiid's gonna have to get better at in

the long run. But the bottom line is is Embiid Maxie is a great foundation. You're not gonna do a lot better than those two. Right looking around the league, I thought MAXI I mean, obviously tonight he had a rough shooting ninety six for eighteen from the field, one for six from three, but big plays late still over the course of the series. I thought he was their most reliable shot creator. He was the guy that basically

extended the series in Game five. And most importantly, if you look at if you look at the payroll for the Sixers, things are wide open. They pretty much clean books moving forward, plenty of draft compensation to offer. One of the things that I look at, you know, I thought d Anthony Melton. Obviously he was coming back from

an injury, so he's basically unavailable. But like that was the one piece that they didn't really have in the sense that, like Nick Watoum and Kelly Ubre, I thought he did a good job on the bracket on Brunson in the sense that, like their length had the ability to bother Brunson from behind, and there was a lot of asset with that in the early part of the series. But one of the things they struggled with throughout the series was screen navigation to actually beat Brunson to the

spot and flatten out his driving angles. And like, one of the things you need for something like that is a lower center of gravity, shorter, stockier, super laterally quick type of athlete. That type of athlete is the kind of guy that can beat people over the top of screens, flatten out some of that driving angle and make it so that and make it so that Brunson's not operating with the defender on his backside the entire game. Right, I want to credit Batoum and Uber. I thought they

did a good job in this series. For the most part. They limited Brunson in his efficiency, put him into some bad shooting nights. I thought. I thought that Nick Batum in particular, played amazing defense on Jalen Brunson down the stretch of Game five. He was the one that got He timed that Brunson pulled up three on the right wing and caused him to turn it over because he just kind of anticipated where that pull up angle was and close the gap really quick. I want to credit

those guys. They did a good job. But length on the perimeter is a very different type of perimeter defender than an actual guard defender, and so I think that's something that they'll have to look into in general, just surrounding those two with more reliable, starting caliber players right like Tobias Harris two inconsistent Kelly Ubray a lot of big plays in this series, but I thought he went off script offensively and was a little bit of a He was just a little bit, you know, unpredictable in

terms of whether or not he was going to kind of hijack a possession and do something off script or something along those lines. And so again, you've got your one, and you've got your five, You've got Max, you've got embiid. You could build out the roster around that tons of flexibility heading into this offseason. I wouldn't be surprised if

they tried to bring back the Anthony Melton. With his bird rights, they can offer him more than a veteran minimum, right, So like, maybe that's a guy that they'll look to to bring back, but they're gonna need to bolster that team. That's your foundation, though. You've got a really good foundation there, and honestly, you get some good mid level salaries with

the type of draft compensation they have. Looking into the middle of next season, you could open yourself up to a big kind of star trade if you want to go after a wing like let's say, for instance, Paul George doesn't extend, and you go into next season and Paul George becomes available around the middle of the season, that's where you can piece some of those salaries together and go after a star forward if that's what you want, right again, if you want to have a legitimate secondary

shot creator. But Max Embiid I thought excelled in this series, and for the most part, especially given in Bead's injury situation, and so I thought there was a lot of encouraging stuff there. But at the end of the day, you just couldn't match the perimeter toughness of the Knicks, and that's something that you're gonna have to figure out heading

into this offseason. Moving on to Pacers Bucks, a good win for the Pacers pretty much controlled it throughout the lid by double figures for the majority of the game, huge efforts from TJ McConnell and Obti off the bench. TJ McConnell twenty points and nine assists, keept getting into the paint and just making kickout reads, those little pull up jumpers that are kind of like his his mo right, those little, short, little drifting fadeaway jumpers after he's gotten

a good head of steam downhill. He also had two threes in this game, which is not really what he's known for, but hit a couple of big ones in the second half, Obie Topping twenty one points and eight rebounds. Really want to just shout out Obi Topping in general. He turned himself into a reliable NBA player in a way that he wasn't back in New York. Right, like,

became a much more reliable catch and shoot threat. Didn't shoot the ball particularly well in this series, but did throughout the regular season, and then identified the ability that he had to help this team offensively. Right playing alongside Tyres Sliburn running his lane in transition hutting along the baseline when his defender as the low man tags the roller. He's just a natural play finisher for Tyres Saliburn. Big

time game from him off the bench. Looking out at the first round series for the Pacer, six players average double figures for them. Some callbacks to the Steam Phoenix Suns teams from the mid to late two thousands. They'd have like five to six guys average double figures and they'd only have like one guy in the twenties for them. That was Sean Marion. For this team, it's it's Pascal Siyakam. Pascal Siakam averaged twenty two to nine to four in

the series on fifty five percent. Shooting just did an absolute number on brook Lopez whenever he had the opportunity. A lot of timely shot making in the mid range area as well. Tyres Haliburton's first playoff series is the number one option. Sixteen points, six rebounds and nine assists, forty four percent from the field, thirty percent from three

on nine attempts per game. Really struggled from three. That's something that he's gonna have to kind of figure out again, like he was shooting it so well at the start of the season. That's such an important ability for him in terms of scoring and pick and roll and beating switches when he gets smaller or excuse me, slower footed bigs out on the perimeter. I thought Miles Turner was the key of the series, though so many teams ignore

Miles Turner to try to protect the paint. It is like something you almost have to do, the pick and pop big. If you choose to take that, it just opens up so many issues for you on the back line. He's gonna need to hit some shots, and he did, and he was attempted seven three pointers per game. Knockdown knocked him down at forty four percent just I thought he his shot making from the perimeter in this series just put Milwaukee in a total mind in terms of

what they were able to do defensively. Now, obvious mitigating factors right like Damon Giannis were out, but they took care of business and they won a series they were supposed to win. Now, the Knicks are going to be a challenge, as they talked about earlier. For those who watched this on a breakout clip, I'll go over it again. But the Pacers defensive rebounded pretty well against Milwaukee about

seventy three percent, but that is a weakness there. They were one of the very bottom teams in the league before the Seacome trade, and then I think they were twenty first after the Seacome trades, so still bottom ten in the league. The Knicks are a team that are relentless attacking the offensive class twenty more offensive rebounds tonight against the Sixers. They also have a lot of speed

at guard, so you're Nemhard Knee Smith, Halliburton, TJ. McConnell guard speed equation that you bring to the table like get ready for Josh Hart and Miles duce McBride and Dante DiVincenzo and Jalen Brunson. It's gonna be a battle of the guards here in the second round. But those Knicks guards are super, super physical. They have a strength advantage, which I think is gonna be something you see over

the course of the series. And again, the Knicks are just going to pound the ball inside on the offensive glass as much as possible. We will have a full series preview on that matchup coming out over the course of the next couple of days. On the Bucks front, obviously a last season for a bunch of reasons, even with the injuries, Like you're seventeen and nineteen under Doc

going into this playoff series. So even if, even if you want to account for the the Giannis and Dame injuries, which obviously are a factor here, you were seventeen and nineteen under Doc and you got your ass kicked by the Pacers even when you were healthy this year. So this year kind of feels like a last year in a bunch of different ways, and I understand the pessimism surrounding that. But here's the upside. I thought Dame looked

great in the postseason. His pull up jumper, which was super inconsistent all season, he was able to make at a much higher clip at least while the games were in question. Obviously struggled to get some lyft in tonight's game, but I thought, I mean, you could he hit a bunch of shots in the fourth quarter that kind of fixed his shooting percentage. I thought he looked like he had pretty good lift and was getting good separation. Damian

Giannis is still an excellent foundation. You just have to get more athletic at center, and you have to get more athletic on the perimeter. If you guys remember on Monday this week, we had the NERD Sash guys on and we talked about a couple of potential options, and one of the options that we put out there was like, what if you call the Thunder the Thunder. I'm sure

would love to have a center. Look where they could put Schet at power forward right and actually have like a real physical size on the floor, not to mention a veteran presence. Well, at the same time, if there's a team that's too fast for a Brook to be on the floor, you can take Brook off the floor and play your traditional lineups right like a team like the Thunder might very well be interested in a presence

like brook Lopez. What if you call them and try to get one of their younger perimeter players that are athletic and play both ends of the floor, like an Aaron Wiggins, like a Kenrich Williams. Right, Like, those are guys that I'd be looking at. Just try to get younger, more athletic two way players on the perimeter, because you can't do much better as a foundation than Damon Giannis. That's dam still a top fifteen player in this league. Giannis is in my opinion, the third best player in

the league still. So, like you, you have a really good foundation, and when you have players like that, you generate small, achievable roles. And when you bring talented young players that have skill on both to have skill on offense and athleticism in size on defense, you can craft as a coach achievable roles for them next year superstars and give yourself a better chance of hanging next year.

Because at the end of the day, like it just was, they were, they were way too on athletic, and as soon as Jannis left it was beyond the point of no return in the ability to handle that sort of thing again. Even with the Pacers. There's a reason why you went one and four against the Pacers even when Yannis was healthy, and it's because even when Giannis is on the floor, you're way too slow, You're way too old. And so that again, you know what you need to

do going into this offseason. I'm not one of those guys. It's like this thing is over. You got a great foundation. You just got to make some tweaks on the fringes. All right, guys, that is all I have for tonight. As always, as sincerely appreciate you guys for supporting the show. I already recorded today with Adamanas from DNVR the full series preview on Lakers or excuse me on Nuggets Wolves. So have PTSD apparently from that series from the Denver

tim the Denver Minnesota. That video is coming out tomorrow. I also have I think nineteen clips of film that I'm gonna be recording for a film session tomorrow on that series. That'll be coming out later in the afternoon. And after that, I'm gonna get to work on Pacers. It's playoff season. It's a grind again, gonna get working on the Pacers Knicks series all have a full series preview on that, and then tomorrow night we have I believe we have the Clippers MAVs Game six. And then

is that the only game that we have tomorrow Let's see. No, we also have Calves Magic Game six, So we're gonna have a double header tomorrow night. We'll be going live on YouTube. After the final buzzer of Clippers MAVs I will see you guys. Then the volume