Let’s Keep It Going: Knicks vs. 76ers Eastern Conference Semifinals Series Preview

Hand up, never in my life did I think I’d be writing a 76ers Eastern Conference Semifinals series preview in 2026, but here we are.

After going down 3-1 in their first-round series against the Boston Celtics, the 76ers pulled off the impossible, storming back in the series, winning three straight games, to advance to the Eastern Conference Semifinals. While the comeback and win are great, the downside is that the team is waiting for the 76ers in the round, the New York Knicks.

While the Knicks have only recently become a playoff pain for the 76ers, some consider the Knicks a bigger rival to the 76ers than the Celtics. Either way, getting a top rival for a second consecutive series isn’t fun, especially now that the majority of the NBA world believes New York to be the favorites coming out of the East, after Boston’s defeat.

It’s going to be a dogfight between these two teams, similar to the way their playoff series back in 2024 went, where almost every game was a back-and-forth classic, where if things had gone a little differently, the 76ers could’ve walked away with the win. However, they didn’t; the Knicks were better, and the 76ers went home losers again.

The 76ers are rolling right now, but to beat New York and make their first Eastern Conference Finals since 2001, they need to be perfect and get the most out of their entire team.

The Warrior and The Closer

“The Process” and “The Franchise” have always been pretty good nicknames for the 76ers’ All-NBA players, but I’d like to try and add new nicknames for Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey after their performances and, more specifically, their Game 7 performances against the Celtics.

Embiid played with a Warrior’s mentality since returning from his appendicitis surgery, dominating all four games that he appeared in this series. Just three weeks removed from surgery, Embiid averaged 28 points, nine rebounds, and seven assists, battling through injury to help the 76ers mount their comeback. No injury was enough for the big man, as he battled through it all.

As for Maxey, all series long, Maxey has been an outstanding Co-No. 1 option alongside Embiid, filling in for the first three games before Embiid returned, and continuing to be as dominant as before in the final four games with Embiid.

Maxey averaged 26.9 points, 4.9 rebounds, and 6.6 assists while also totalling just nine turnovers in the whole series. His assist-to-turnover ratio was 46:9 in the series. The truly special game came in Game 7 when Maxey took over at the end of the game, scoring eight of the 76ers’ final 10 points, to close out the 109-100 win over Boston.

In Game 7, Maxey and Embiid became the first duo in NBA history to both post 30+ points, 11+ rebounds, and 5+ assists in a playoff game. Doing that in a Game 7 atmosphere, on the road, is legendary stuff.

Maxey and Embiid have to once again be the driving force for Philadelphia in this series, because the unfortunate fact is that if they’re not, the 76ers will likely lose to the Knicks. Now, this isn’t some headline news, as that is how the majority of the year has been with Philadelphia, and it’s the same way for most teams. When stars don’t perform, those teams usually don’t win.

It’s likely going to be that way for the 76ers, but after the way Maxey and Embiid performed to close out their previous series, Nick Nurse and the rest of the 76ers would sign up for that in a heartbeat, because they feel that when those two are hot, nobody can stop them.

READ MORE ON EMBIID:

A Vintage, Hungry Joel Embiid Leads the 76ers to Series Comeback over Boston

Stopping Jalen Brunson

The Knicks have a great offensive attack, with realistically all five starters capable of scoring 20+ points in a game. However, the head of the snake is poing guard Jalen Brunson. Brunson has blossomed into an MVP-caliber star since signing with the Knicks back in 2022 and has made it his mission to take care of business when it comes to playing the 76ers.

Brunson has scored under 20 points in just three regular-season games against the 76ers over the past four regular seasons, and in the last playoff series between the Knicks and 76ers, Brunson averaged 35.5 points per game, scoring 39, 47, 40, and 41 points in the final four games. It’s safe to say Brunson knew his way around the 76ers’ defense back then.

However, this season has been a little different for Brunson when it comes to scoring, mainly because a new defender has taken the reins on locking down Brunson. His name is VJ Edgecombe, and this season, Edgecombe has nearly dominated when guarding Brunson, allowing only 19 points on 8-for-24 with seven assists and three turnovers.

Edgecombe is the only player over the past two seasons to hold Brunson under 42% shooting when covering him on at least 75 possessions. Dyson Daniels, another great defending guard in the league, was the only player in the league to spend more time matched against Brunson than Edgecombe this season.

Brunson is going to get his in this series, but how much is the big question? If the 76ers can keep him in check, it would be a huge boost to the team, which feels they can handle the remaining starters.

Getting Bench Production

Every star in this series is going to get theirs at some point or another in their series, but the game-changer and who will probably win this series will be the production each team gets out of their bench.

The 76ers’ bench in the Celtics series was the definition of inconsistent: in some games, we’d see 20+ points, and in others, we’d be lucky to see 10 from a non-starter. In the 76ers’ four wins this series, the bench scored 21, 25, 6, and 3 points. When you break that down, the 25 came when Quentin Grimes scored 18 in that game, and Kelly Oubre Jr., who started, scored just 4 points. Also, in the 21 points, Andre Drummond scored 10 of those, while Adem Bona, who started and played fewer minutes than Drummond, scored 0.

In the three losses, the bench scored 27, 14, and 24, and the 27 and 24 came in blowout losses when the bench was playing a lot more minutes. It shows that the bench has really been ineffective all series long, and you can really say the opposite when it comes to the Knicks.

In the Hawks series, the Knicks bench combined for 20, 20, 30, 35, 38, and a whopping 44 points in six games. As the series went on, every single game saw an increase in bench points from New York, with the cap from 10 players in their closeout 140-89 Game 6 win in Atlanta.

The 76ers cannot let the Knicks bench, namely the group of Deuce McBride, Jose Alvarado, Mitchell Robinson, and Landry Shamet, get going and keep them in check. On the flip side, Grimes, Drummond, Justin Edwards, and Dominick Barlow, you have your hands full to contribute after not really doing anything in the Celtics series.

Game Times and Broadcasts

Game 1:  Monday, May 4, 8:00 p.m. ET, Madison Square Garden, NBC/Peacock, 97.5 The Fanatic

Game 2: Wednesday, May 6, 7:00 p.m. ET, Madison Square Garden, ESPN, 97.5 The Fanatic

Game 3: Friday, May 8, 7:00 p.m. ET, Xfinity Mobile Arena, Amazon Prime, 97.5 The Fanatic 

Game 4: Sunday, May 10, 3:00 p.m. ET, Xfinity Mobile Arena, ABC, 97.5 The Fanatic 

Game 5 (if necessary): Tuesday, May 12, TBD, Madison Square Garden, TBD, 97.5 The Fanatic

Game 6 (if necessary): Thursday, May 14, TBD, Xfinity Mobile Arena, TBD, 97.5 The Fanatic

Game 7 (if necessary): Sunday, May 17, Madison Square Garden, TBD, TBD, 97.5 The Fanatic

By The Numbers (playoffs)

• Records:
  • 76ers: 4-3
  • Knicks: 4-2
• Seed:
  • 76ers: 7th (East)
  • Knicks: 3rd (East)
• Points Per Game:
  • 76ers: 103.7
  • Knicks: 117.8
• Rebounds Per Game:
  • 76ers: 41.1
  • Knicks: 45.8
• Assists Per Game:
  • 76ers: 21.7
  • Knicks: 24.2
• Field Goal Percentage:
  • 76ers: 44.6%
  • Knicks: 49.9%
• Three-Point Percentage:
  • 76ers: 35.2%
  • Knicks: 38.0%

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