Game Day Preview: Knicks at Sixers, a Banner-Night Rematch to Open the NBA Cup

Ten days ago the Sixers walked into the Garden on banner night and left with a 106-100 win. Tonight we get them again, and this time it counts twice. The 2-3 Knicks visit the 4-1 Sixers at Xfinity Mobile Arena in Philadelphia, with tip at 7:30 PM ET / 6:30 PM CT, and it's on Prime Video nationally, per ESPN and NBA.com. It's also the first night of NBA Cup group play, and we're the defending Cup champs.

I'm coming in a lot calmer than I was a week ago. Two straight comebacks, the second one with Jalen Brunson dropping 38 on 6-of-10 from deep in Chicago, per the NBA.com box score, have the champs looking like the champs again.

What went wrong on opening night

I rewatched that opener in my head way too many times. We shot 35-of-94, per the ESPN box score. Mikal Bridges had four points on 2-of-8, OG went 1-of-9 from three, and Brunson needed 19 shots for 21. Tyrese Maxey torched us for 28, and Philly ran out for 24 fast-break points to our 16. The frustrating part? We did the dirty work. We won the glass 53-45 with 14 offensive boards and won the paint 44-40. We just couldn't make a shot.

Philly has stacked wins since then: 114-106 over Cleveland, 127-116 over Milwaukee, a 106-93 loss to Detroit, then 114-109 in Indiana on Wednesday, per ESPN. Maxey leads them at 28.4 points a game, per ESPN, and in Indy he had 27 while Joel Embiid posted 21 and 11, Jaylen Brown went for 20 and 10 and LeBron James dished 10 assists. Anfernee Simons hit 6-of-10 from three off the bench.

The matchup I care about, and the numbers

It's Maxey against our guard defense, and that's where I want size. Put Bridges on him early and let OG handle Brown or LeBron. That only works if Mikal is actually on the floor after playing just 13 minutes in Chicago, per the New York Post. I want the two wings together tonight, period.

The numbers lean our way if we play our game. We're shooting 36% from three to Philly's 33%, and we're grabbing 48.2 rebounds a night to their 42.2, per ESPN's team stats. Cat at the five, spacing Embiid out of the paint, is how we turn that glass edge into easy points. Brunson and the guards have to keep the turnovers down, though, because we're giving it away 16.0 times a game, per ESPN. ESPN's DraftKings line has us as 1.5-point favorites.

Here's the official NBA injury report as of 6:00 AM ET. LeBron and Embiid aren't on it, even with Philly playing in Charlotte tomorrow:

• Knicks: Jose Alvarado (left ankle sprain) is out.
• 76ers: Jaylen Brown (left knee soreness) is questionable. Dominick Barlow (low back stress reaction), Tacko Fall (left quadriceps strain), Ariel Hukporti (right Achilles tear) and Jabari Walker (left patellar tendinopathy) are out.

With Alvarado out, I expect more Tyler Kolek, who had nine assists and zero turnovers in Chicago, per the box score. Catch up on that one in our Morning After: https://knicks365.com/blog/knicks-bulls-recap-brunson-38-comeback-2-3

NBA.com points out that eight teams have gone 3-1 in group play and still missed the knockouts. So no, this isn't just another regular-season game. Get the banner-night loss back, and start the Cup defense right.