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Joel Embiid #21 of the Philadelphia 76ers heads for the net as OG Anunoby #8 of the New York Knicks defends

The New York Knicks will open the second round of the playoffs against an upstart Sixers team that roared back from a 3-1 series deficit to knock off the heavily favored Celtics in the first round of the postseason. When looking for reasons that Philly was able to so drastically change its fortunes, there is really only one big aspect that stands out–very, very big. That would be center Joel Embiid.

It was less than a month ago that Embiid had an emergency appendectomy, a surgery that was expected to keep him out for as long as four weeks. But Embiid hurried back and rejoined the Sixers for Game 4, which was a struggle–he had 26 points and 10 rebounds, but was 9-for-21 shooting in a loss. From there, though, Embiid averaged 28.7 points, 7.3 assists and 8.7 rebounds, and the Celtics just did not have an answer for him.

Quite suddenly, a Sixers team that had been ravaged by injuries all year is whole, and looks especially dangerous for a Knicks team that is loaded with talent but has, at times, been its own worst enemy.

Knicks Could Try OG Anunoby

There’s plenty to worry about with Philadelphia, as Paul George has been healthy and a two-way threat, and the backcourt of Tyrese Maxey and rookie VJ Edgecombe has been outstanding. But the series against the Celtics showed that the Sixers are manageable when their wings and guards are at the fore. Embiid makes them a  different animal, and the Knicks will need some creative ways to deal with him.

In a piece for the New York Post, Knicks beat writer Stefan Bondy got advice from an opposing coach on how the Knicks could handle Embiid. The answer was a surprise.

The coach told Bondy: “Put OG [Anunoby] on him. What you’ll be able to do is if you do that — you’ll see they’ll post-up Embiid and not play the pick-and-roll with Maxey. And I get it, Embiid versus OG is not what you want all night in the post. But you can prescript your double-teams. You can do some different things against Embiid down there compared to the middle of the floor with Embiid and Maxey, which I think is more dangerous.”

Joel Embiid Has Been Very Good in the Post

The advantage of putting Anunoby on Embiid  is that it could tempt Embiid into more post-up attempts, which the coach says are less impactful for the Sixers than the pick-and-roll. Indeed, the Maxey-Embiid pick-and-roll is effective, and Embiid (in only a four-game sample, of course) is leading the NBA in PNR roll man scoring, at 7.8 points per game.

He is also leading the playoffs, though, in points per game on post-ups, at 8.3 points per game, and a very efficient 1.19 points per possession. Maybe Anunoby can do better against Embiid post-ups than the Celtics did, but it’s worth noting that though Anunoby is strong at 240 pounds, he still gives up five inches and 30 pounds to Anunoby.

And there’s one other issue with overloading Anunoby against Embiid defensively–Anunoby has been the Knicks’ most consistent offensive player in this postseason, averaging 21.5 points on 61.1% shooting. Might saddling him with defending Embiid, even in spurts, wear him out?