The Philadelphia 76ers were 29-16 in the Eastern Conference sitting comfortably as the third-seeded team during Joel Embiid‘s dominance. The meniscus injury he sustained on January 30 sidelined him for 29 games. The team went 11-18 and had to claw for a place in the play-in. During that time the New York Knicks found form and went on a run and clinched the 2nd spot in the Eastern Conference standings, with 50 wins from 82 games.

Embiid scored 23 points, 15 rebounds, and 5 assists to help the 76ers to a close win 105-104 against the Miami Heat. The center played 38 minutes and had to manage his injury. His availability is in doubt against the Knicks with his status being questionable.

Charles Barkley explained how the Knicks can take advantage of Embiid’s injury on the Inside the NBA show. “Whoever Joel is guarding I’m going to make him play defense to move laterally. I’m going to test that knee and his conditioning that’s my only concern with the Sixers.” Barkley previously predicted a win for Joel Embiid and co. to which even Shaq agreed. But Kenny Smith picked New York and Jalen Brunson to be the difference maker.

Jalen Brunson and Knicks to sweep away Joel Embiid

The Knicks took three out of four in the regular season, Embiid did not play in three of those games. They also had the one game this season in which both teams scored under 80, 79-73 to the Sixers win. Smith explained how the Knicks have scorers and don’t depend on one guy. “…They have a committee of guys that can get 15 points and they don’t struggle to get 15 points. The question has always been could they ever have the best player on the floor to me and Brunson has improved to a point where he will be the best player on the floor in certain games…”

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The Sixers have two of the three best players in the series, plus a championship coach. But the Knicks have the physicality and depth to go toe-to-toe with Philly. After all, the Sixers haven’t gone past the second round of the playoffs in the last six seasons. Joel Embiid is gunning for his first ring and has a diverse portfolio of a supporting cast like Tyrese Maxey, Oubre Jr., and Tobias Harris. Despite being regarded as slight favorites, the Knicks would severely miss the services of Julius Randle, who’s probably their second-best player after Jalen Brunson.

Only 3 wins are separating the 2nd seed and the 7th seed. With such a tight affair coming up, who are you hedging the bets against?