Knicks to face 76ers in first round of 2024 NBA Playoffs
The Knicks' opponent for the first round of the 2024 NBA playoffs is set.
With the 76ers beating the Miami Heat in Wednesday's play-in game, 105-104, it gave Philadelphia the No. 7 seed and set up a showdown with the No. 2 seed Knicks.
Game 1 is Saturday at Madison Square Garden.
The last time the Knicks and Sixers faced each other in the playoffs was 1988-89, when New York swept the first-round series.
As far as more recent history?
The Knicks won their first meeting with the Sixers this season, beating them on Jan. 5 in Philadelphia.
New York had their big three of Jalen Brunson, OG Anunoby, and Julius Randle for that game, but were without Mitchell Robinson and had not yet traded for Bojan Bogdanovic or increased Deuce McBride's role to what it is now.
The Knicks also topped the Sixers on Feb. 22 in Philly, in a game where they didn't have Anunoby and Philly didn't have Joel Embiid.
The Sixers and Knicks split the final two regular-season matchups, with an Embiid-less Philadelphia beating the undermanned Knicks on Mar. 10 at The Garden and New York returning the favor two days later in a 106-79 win.
Before New York locked up the No. 2 seed, there was a thought that they could be better off easing up -- as some other teams did -- during their final game (an eventual win over the Chicago Bulls), in order to wind up with the No. 3 seed and a matchup with the Indiana Pacers.
But the Knicks were not thinking that way.
"The object is to win, so you put everything you have into winning. That’s the bottom line," head coach Tom Thibodeau said after beating the Bulls.
"We don’t care what they’re doing," Donte DiVincenzo added. "We’re focused on our locker room. Whatever they decide to do, that’s their team, their organization’s decision. Our decision was to play. Everybody played and we won the game."
If the Knicks advance to the second round, they'll face the winner of the series between the No. 3 seed Milwaukee Bucks and No. 6 Pacers.
