Injuries on Both Sides

The Knicks are playing with their fair share of injuries too. In their last game they were without Julius Randle, OG Anunoby and Mitchell Robinson. These three would be in the rotation for any team in the NBA. Randle and Robinson are out for a long time, but there is a chance Anunoby plays in this one as he is battling a minor elbow injury. The Knicks only scored 73 in Sunday’s matchup against the 76ers, they were led by Jalen Brunson with 19 points, but he only shot 6-22 from the field.

Brunson is their leading scorer on the season at 27.1 PPG, and has been healthy as he has played and started 59 games this season. He also leads the team in assists with 6.5 per game, and knocks down 40.3% of his three point attempts. The next available scorer is Donte DiVincenzo, he is averaging 14.3 PPG, and makes the most threes on the team, knocking down 3.2 per contest. Bojan Bogdanovic has been coming off the bench since joining the Knicks 11 games ago, he is averaging 13.5 PPG in his games with the team. Against the Sixers, they started Josh Hart, Precious Achiuwa, and Isaiah Hartenstein, but none of them were able to reach 10 points.

Bogdanovic led the bench unit, while also Jericho Sims and Miles McBride provided valuable minutes. The Knicks are 13th in offensive efficiency and 9th in defensive efficiency. The Knicks play at the slowest tempo in all of basketball, ranking 30th in pace of play.

Weathering the Storm

The storm for the Philadelphia 76ers is injuries, particularly to their MVP big man Joel Embiid. The goal of this stretch of the season it to keep themselves in solid playoff positioning while waiting for Embiid to get healthy. They are currently 6th in the standings, but are in risk of falling into the Play-In Tournament as the Pacers and Heat are within a game in the standings. Embiid is slated to return in April, but nothing is certain yet. In Sunday’s game against the Knicks, the 76ers were led by Kelly Oubre with 18 points and 10 rebounds in the win.

The 76ers also played against the Knicks without Tyrese Maxey, as he sat out with a concussion. Maxey is still questionable for this matchup as well. Without those two, Tobias Harris becomes their leading scorer on the season. Harris averages 17.4 PPG, and had a double-double against the Knicks with 11 points and 12 rebounds. Harris also had a 21 point, 10 rebound game in the previous matchup with the Pelicans. Kelly Oubre Jr. will need to step up more frequently, he had a strong outing last game and is averaging 14.6 PPG on the year. They still brought Buddy Hield off the bench, but he plays heavy minutes, he is averaging 14.9 PPG as a Sixer, and converts 3.4 three pointers per game. Without Maxey, they started two ballhandlers in the backcourt, as Kyle Lowry and Cameron Payne were both in the starting lineup.

Mo Bamba started at center, but Paul Reed ended up taking up most of the minutes at center off the bench. Nic Batum played heavy minutes off the bench as a stretch forward. The 76ers are 14th in offensive efficiency and 12th in defensive efficiency according to dunksandthrees.com. They play at the 17th fastest tempo in the NBA.