Sixers’ Kelly Oubre Jr. reacts to having face Knicks, MSG crowd in Round 1
CAMDEN, N.J. — The Philadelphia 76ers are set to take on the New York Knicks in Round 1 of the playoffs as the No. 7 seed in the East. There will be a ton of challenges that Philadelphia will have to overcome in order to get the job done.
Kelly Oubre Jr. is set to play in his first playoff game since 2018 when he was a member of the Washington Wizards. The Sixers have received some hugely important play out of Oubre as he has been a big piece of what the team wants to do out on the floor.
As he and the Sixers prepare to face the Knicks, Oubre gave his thoughts on what New York offers in a 7-game series.
“Coach (Tom) Thibodeau, he gets his guys ready to go hard, play with intensity for 48 minutes,” Oubre said at practice on Friday. “They pride themselves on defense, and Jalen Brunson, he’s the head of the snake for them and he has really good pieces around him. Being more physical, I think that’s kind of the (main) takeaway I have from our success against them this year.”
The Sixers dropped three of the four matchups, but Philadelphia also didn’t have Joel Embiid for three of those games. On the flip side, the Knicks did defeat the Sixers in the game with the big fella.
While Thibodeau is going to figure things out for the Knicks, the Sixers have Nick Nurse on their side. He is going to come up with a scheme of his own to put Philadelphia in the best position to win this series and counteract New York’s physicality.
“The game is based on physicality and you have to be smart, too,” Oubre added. “So keeping our brains intact while we’re being physical and playing football-like basketball. I think it’ll be the better team with the highest IQ who can make changes and counter the aggression…at the end of the day, coach Nurse is a wizard when it comes to understanding game plans and getting us ready to play. So I’m going to just listen to whatever he has to say and go out and do it.”
When considering the atmosphere the Sixers are about to walk into, Madison Square Garden is crazy enough as it is. Throw in the intensity of the playoffs and Philadelphia understands what the MSG crowd will be like.
“The fans are pretty crazy,” laughed Oubre. “They have a really good culture of being wild and loving basketball to the root and the core of it. They call it the Mecca of basketball for a reason. The lights are super bright. They’re going to give celebrities those $100,00 free tickets just to be there and not care about the game, but that’s what they do. It’s going to be super fun and I look forward to it. It’s one of my favorite places to play.”
Game 1 of this series tips off on Saturday.
