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The look for the Eastern Conference’s most significant danger to the Boston Celtics is formally over.
Since the New York Knicks simply ended it.
Some will argue they closed the book on this currently– long earlier, even.
The OG Anunoby trade to liquidate 2023 ended up being that impactful, diversifying and stabilizing the rotation, at both ends of the flooring, in such a way that made indisputable sense.
Still, injuries near the top of lineup (consisting of to Anunoby himself) paired with a fuzzy regular-season chain of command left this matter quite up for argument even after New York bagged the East’s No. 2 seed.
There’s no requirement to hedge any longer following the Knicks’ 2-for-2 start to the 2024 NBA playoffs.
If any doubt continued it passed away on arrival throughout Monday’s 104-101 Game 2 success over the Philadelphia 76ers, a gritty and disorderly win that can be distilled down to the chaos that occurred over the last half-minute.
Bleacher Report @BleacherReport
WHAT A TURN OF EVENTS AT MSG > pic.twitter.com/XhfRzDS6Va
This mini-stretch will not just be most remembered (and revered) for whatever the hell took place here and the double “BANG!” it called for:
Bleacher Report @BleacherReport
KNICKS WILD SEQUENCE FOR THE LEAD
> NY TAKES A 2-0 SERIES LEAD > pic.twitter.com/KBYgl41bMO
Likewise for Isaiah Hartenstein doing, well, something really Isaiah Hartenstein of him when Tyrese Maxey attempted to attempt ending up at the rim:
Hardly holding serve in the house versus the seven-seed is not usually trigger for extensive pronouncements. The Sixers are not your typical play-in group. Maxey and Joel Embiid are skeleton secrets that open a course towards real contention.
Embiid is not himself. He’s simply not. The left meniscus injury that sidelined him for about 2 months is still an issue, one he might have intensified by tossing a pass to himself off the backboard in Game 1:
ESPN @espn
Joel Embiid returned to the locker space after an obvious injury. > pic.twitter.com/66CZtqG9z3
(Quick aside: This self-oop was not especially explosive, and Embiid appeared to worsen his leg on the landing instead of the liftoff. Declaring he messed up amounts stating he should not leap. And if he should not leap, then he should not be playing.)
Embiid’s health, above all, is a reasonable caution. He might barely get up and down the flooring by the end of Game 2. That he completed with 34 points, 10 rebounds, 6 helps and one block while interfering with and detering shots inside the paint for more than 39 minutes is freaking outrageous.
If you ask Embiid and the Sixers, they’ll likewise indicate other cautions that have actually avoided them from taking a 2-0 series lead of their own:
PHLY Sixers @PHLY_Sixers
Joel Embiid on the inbounds pass turnover, and what he believed was numerous fouls on Tyrese Maxey: “Fucking undesirable” > pic.twitter.com/7BQxqkNzUF
Doubtful non-calls are certainly part of the Game 2 plot. Consider this your friendly pointer that no result hinges upon a handful of whistles and non-whistles, not even when it’s your preferred group sensation scandalized. The Sixers held the lead for the majority of Game 2 and had more than 47 minutes’ worth of basketball to produce and preserve more separation.
This isn’t about Philly. Not straight. This has to do with the Knicks, who keep spitting out big-time success in the face of their own cautions.
Tommy Beer @TommyBeer
Knicks close the video game on an 8-0 run.
> Score 8 points in last 28 seconds.
> An all-time Knicks surface
Injuries might have restrained their capability to be here at all, in ownership