New York came out sluggish in the first quarter in game one. The Sixers won the first quarter by nine points and were the hungrier team. Philadelphia had a good game plan to throw Jalen Brunson and Donte DiVincenzo off their game offensively. Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey are officially listed as game-time decisions. Even if they both play, the Knicks should look to take advantage of them both not being 100% and get off to a hot start.

Sixers too banged up. Grab it now!!

Embid is NOT 100%. He can’t bang and drive with the same ferocity for his full compliment of minutes. But this is the playoffs and the Sixers need him to score. So what has he done? Hoisted. The Lnicks seem happy to give it to him. He shot 8 in game 1….I project 6 tonight. 2/6 seems significantly more likely than 1/6 or 0/6.

Josh Hart was terrific in Game 1, posting 22 points and 13 rebounds. He shot 5-for-12 from the field, including 4-for-8 from behind the arc. The key was, he logged 42 minutes. He had plenty of success against the 76ers during the regular season, posting at least 25 combined points and rebounds in three of their four meetings. In two of those games, he had at least 30 combined points and rebounds. With a ton of minutes likely coming his way again, the over is the way to go here.

Josh Hart is the definition of a swiss army knife with his ability to do multiple things on the court and contribute in a variety of ways. He stuffs the stat sheet, he is arguably the Knicks best rebounder, a good facilitator, is an above average defender, and rarely comes off the court. It makes sense why Thibs plays him nearly 48 MPG. The one area where I would argue Hart is his weakest component is scoring, partly because of his selflessness, but he's not a great or consistent shooter. 14 points is a big as and this line is inflated because he scored 22 points in Game 1 which is likely to end up as the most points he scores in a playoff game.

Joel Embiid has been doing his best Steph Curry impersonation since returning to the Sixers lineup. The reigning MVP has made at least two threes in six consecutive games, while hoisting 36 threes over that span (6 3PT FGs per game). The Knicks protect the paint as well any team in the league and as a result will live with Embiid shooting from the perimeter. The Knicks allowed the second most made threes per game to opposing C's during the regular season. Embiid took a whopping eight threes in Game 1. This is a trend that I like to continue.

Joel Embiid clearly was not 100 percent entering the series and then tweaked his knee late in the first half of Game 1 and clearly wasn't the same. That questionable listing is stupid as he'll be in there tonight but I don't see Philly winning on the road with him limited. Also fully expect Jalen Brunson to be much better than in the opener when he was 8-for-26 shooting.

In the past, we've talked about the "zig-zag" in the NBA Playoffs, though we're not sure we've ever seen a first round set up so well for that time-tested trend. While there are always zig-zag examples for Game Two, this spring looks a bit different as all eight home teams won (7-1 vs. the line) in the openers. If pronounced patterns endure, zig-zags might rise with vengeance in Game Twos. Philly might be the best candidate to recover, especially if Tyrese Maxey (missed morning shootaround) and Joel Embiid (should be good to go) are ready. After the slowing Jalen Brunson but getting hurt on the offensive glass, changing the latter just a bit and the Saturday result doesn't repeat. Play Sixers