10 burning questions for Sixers’ second-round matchup with the Knicks

As head coach Nick Nurse told the 76ers on Saturday evening around 10 pm, you had until midnight to celebrate the victory before moving on to the next step of the journey. So it goes in the playoffs. These two teams played a very fun series two years ago, but a lot has changed since then, with Karl-Anthony Towns and Mikal Bridges entering the picture and Tobias Harris getting swapped out for Paul George in Philly.

Let’s take a look at some stats, trends, and matchups to keep an eye on coming into the series, after the teams split the games 2-2 in the regular season. Can VJ Edgecombe successfully slow down Jalen Brunson? You could make a pretty easy argument that Edgecombe was the single-best defender of New York’s offensive engine in the regular season.

The numbers are staggering for a rookie — Edgecombe guarded Brunson for around 106 possessions across four matchups, the second most of any individual player this season, holding Brunson to a total of 19 points on 8/24 shooting in those possessions. He slid around screens, contested midrange jumpers well, and wore Brunson down on the other end, making his life miserable for most of their time on the floor together. Other high-level defenders got their opportunities and struggled to keep Brunson down, with Jalen Suggs and Dyson Daniels both getting carved up by the Knicks guard in the regular season across a similar number of reps.

Though he battled foul trouble at times throughout the year, Edgecombe was fairly successful at guarding the more physical, timing-based players in year one, which is part of what allowed him to scale up and battle bigger wings in the mid-post, including in round one vs. Boston. Even when Brunson was able to shake Edgecombe with an initial head fake or dribble move, the rookie’s closing speed allowed him to get back into plays and contest without putting himself in jeopardy.