WHOOPS.
My bad, everyone.
I missed the window to actually get this post up in between the Philadelphia 76ers advancing to the second round to face the New York Knicks on Saturday and Game 1 of that Eastern Conference semifinal series on Monday. I totally had time to do it on Sunday night and Monday morning…. just totally did not realize that the series was starting up that quickly, and here we are.
This is going to be a shorter post than our first round entry in keeping track of the NBA Playoffs through a Marquette magnifying glass. That is due to Oklahoma City eliminating Oso Ighodaro and Phoenix in four games as well as Detroit rallying from down 3-1 to bounce Jamal Cain and Orlando in seven games. We got very close to being able to keep an eye on the Magic, as they had a 20 point lead at halftime of Game 6…. and then they lost by double digits and then lost Game 7 by 20 points.
That leaves us with just one former Marquette player involved in the NBA Playoffs, and as we’ll get to in a second, “involved” is a stretch of a word to use……
Kolek and New York advanced out of the first round with a 4-2 series win over the Atlanta Hawks. After Atlanta got a 107-106 win in Game 2 and a 109-108 win in Game 3, that series got out of hand in a hurry. New York won the next three games by 16, 29, and 51 points. That Game 6 wasn’t even as close as the 140-89 margin suggests it was as the Knicks were up 61 at one point in the third quarter not to mention it was 40-15 at the end of the first quarter and 83-36 at the half.
As mostly expected, our man Tyler Kolek was not that involved in the series. He appeared in just three of the games for a total of 19 minutes. We can’t help but notice that he played in the three games that the Knicks won by increasingly larger margins, so perhaps head coach Mike Brown should have been giving the former Big East Player of the Year a little bit more run, eh? Kolek averaged 2.7 points and 1.7 assists per game in his limited action, but his series against Philadelphia in the second round is off to a better start. One-for-one in games played, eight points and four assists in 10 minutes, and he got to celebrate the 137-98 win with Timothee Chalamet, who passed on going to the Met Gala with his girlfriend to be at Game 1 at The Garden.
New York was led by Jalen Brunson and OG Anunoby in the first round series against Atlanta, with both men averaging at least 21 points per game. Brunson had the team lead in assists, barely beating out Karl-Anthony Towns, 6.2 to 6.0 per game. Towns was the leading rebounder for the Knicks with 11.3 per game to go with his nearly 19 points a night, and it’s kinda weird that a guy that was averaging 19/11/6/2/2 in a playoff series isn’t getting the spotlight.
As mentioned, Kolek’s Knicks are facing Philadelphia in the second round or the conference semifinals if you want to be fancy about it. The 76ers beat Boston in seven games maaaaaaaybe helped along by Jayson Tatum missing Game 7 with a knee injury of some sort…. and maaaaaybe helped along by head coach Joe Mazzulla starting Baylor Scheierman, Luka Garza, and Ron Harper, none of whom scored in a combined 35 minutes of action in a Game 7 that ended up decided by nine points. Weird!
The Sixers are 100% Tyrese Maxey’s team at this point as he averaged 27 points, five rebounds, and over six assists per game against the Celtics. Joel Embiid recovered from his appendectomy to play in the final four games of the series and average 28 points, nine rebounds, and seven assists a game. That’s pretty much vintage Embiid right there, but as always, the question is whether or not the 32 year old will remain available all playoffs long. He hasn’t played 60 games in an NBA season since 2022-23 and has never played in 70 games in a season. He only appeared in 38 this year for the Sixers, so we’ll have to wait and see how this series goes. It certainly seemed like KAT was able to abuse Embiid in an inside-outside game way in Game 1, which is perhaps a bad sign for Philly but a great sign for you and me trying to see a Marquette guy win an NBA title this year.
Which reminds me: Are the Knicks the favorite in the Eastern Conference right now? Detroit nearly got bounced in the first round by #8 seed Orlando, the Sixers knocked the #2 seeded Celtics out, and the Knicks are the #3 seed. Nobody’s taking Cleveland seriously as the #4 seed except for people in Ohio, and that’s because James Harden Melts Down In What Turns Into The Final Game Of The Season is looming out there for the Cavaliers. Interesting to think about, at the very least.
Game 1: Monday, May 4; Knicks 137, 76ers 98
Game 2: Wednesday, May 6, 6pm Central, ESPN
Game 3: Friday, May 8, 6pm Central, Prime Video
Game 4: Sunday, May 10, 2:30pm Central, ABC
Game 5*: Tuesday, May 12, TBD, TBD
Game 6*: Thursday, May 14, TBD, TBD
Game 7*: Sunday, May 17, TBD, TBD
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