PHILADELPHIA — It will be Joel Embiid, and not Playoff Jimmy, headed to New York this weekend.
Embiid and the 76ers stand in the Knicks’ way in the first playoff series between the teams since 1989 after they fought back from a 14-point hole to pull out a 105-104 victory over Jimmy Butler and the Heat in the Eastern Conference play-in round Wednesday to advance to a first-round series beginning Saturday at the Garden.
“I think they’re for real,” Sixers coach Nick Nurse said about the Knicks. “I think they’re really good. I think they’re fast. I think they can shoot. I think they hit the glass. They can guard you.
“I think they’ve earned that [second] seed. They’ve played really well and beaten a lot of good teams. So we have our work to do these next couple of days to get ready for them.”
Embiid scored 23 points and grabbed 15 rebounds after he’d been listed as questionable for the game due to maintenance on the knee injury that had sidelined him for more than two months before an early-April return.
“See you in New York,” Embiid said as he departed the locker room after the game.
The Heat still can advance as the eighth seed to face the league-best Celtics if they can defeat the Bulls, 131-116 winners over the Hawks.
But they may have to do it without Butler who was feared to have suffered an MCL injury in the loss.
Butler finished with 19 points and Tyler Herro had 25 for the Heat, who played without key midseason acquisition Terry Rozier (neck).
The second-seeded Knicks won 50 games during the regular season, including three of four from the Sixers to win the season series.
But Embiid played in just one of those games, scoring 30 points in a 36-point Knicks blowout in Philly on Jan. 5.
“They kicked our tail in the regular season, and it’s time to go in there and fight,” All-Star guard Tyrese Maxey said. “They’re tough. They start at the head of the snake with Jalen Brunson, and we gotta find ways to slow him down.
“They’re an extremely grimy team. They play hard, they’re physical, they’re tough, and that’s their identity. So for us to go in there and get W’s and try to win this series, we have to match that and overcome that and be better than that.”
The Sixers lost 18 of the 29 consecutive games the 2023 league MVP Embiid missed, but they have won all six in which the All-Star center has appeared in April.
Of course, Butler and the Heat had bounced the Knicks out of the second round of the playoffs one year ago in six games, led by Butler’s 24.6 points per game.
They had dropped the 7-8 play-in game last year to the Hawks before defeating the Bulls to qualify for the postseason tournament — and then knocking off the top-seeded Bucks in the first round en route to a Finals appearance.
Brunson posted 31.0 points per game in that second-round series, and he followed that up with an MVP-caliber performance this season with a scoring average of 28.7, fourth in the league.
“Listen, the way he’s played his game, I think I’ve always seen the abilities, but he’s a special player, man,” said Sixers guard and fellow Villanova alum Kyle Lowry. “He’s a very special, talented kid.
“He worked hard and just by his abilities, he takes advantage of the opportunities that he’s had.”
The Sixers committed 11 turnovers in trailing 51-39 at halftime, while missing 15 of 18 tries from 3-point land.
After slashing the deficit to five by the end of the third, the Sixers managed the first five points of the fourth, including a tying-3 by Embiid, and they finally reclaimed the lead on Nic Batum’s long-distance bucket with 8:58 to go.
Embiid sank two free throws, a straightaway 3-pointer and converted a traditional three-point play to chants of “MVP” from the home crowd for a 96-94 Sixers lead with 1:47 left.
Kelly Oubre Jr. converted another “and-1” for a three-point Philly lead with 36.0 seconds left, before he and Maxey sank four free throws over the final 16.2 to earn a trip to New York.
