Liberty Ballers Bulletin: A Philly Special

The Knicks keep getting ready for the start of their series against the Sixers tipping off on Saturday evening. So does Philly, who had to beat Miami (and did so by a tiny one-point margin) in the Play-In Tournament to reach the playoffs and the right to try and beat the No. 2 seed New York while getting the No. 7 for themselves.

Consider this a little, special edition of our Knicks Bulletin only in this case covering a bunch of stuff said and heard from the enemy lines.

Here’s everything we could fetch from the Liberty Ballers in the past few hours.

Nick Nurse (Head Coach)

On the New York Knicks outlook...

“I think they’ve earned that seed. They’ve played really well and beaten a lot of good teams, so we’ll have our work to do here in the next couple of days to get ready for them.”

”I think they’re for real.”

Paul Reed

On his preference for a first-round opponent...

“Yeah we wanted the Knicks matchup, that’s the easier team.”

”I feel like we ain’t ducking smoke, but yeah we wanted the Knicks matchup, of course. That’s the easier team, I guess. But, you know, it’s gonna be fun. We match up pretty well with them.”

Joel Embiid

On what Nico Batum adds to the Sixers...

“He’s everything. He’s the one we want.”

Tobias Harris

On going against Jalen Brunson...

“We obviously have gone against him, but our hands are full. We’ll be able to figure it out.”

Tyrese Maxey

On facing the Knicks and Jalen Brunson...

“They kicked our tails in the regular season, so it’s time to go in there and fight. Honestly it starts with the head of the snake. Jalen Brunson has been remarkable. We’ve all seen the season he’s had. We have to slow him down.”

On what they will need to do to stop New York...

“First and foremost they’re aggressive so we have to be aggressive. We gotta find ways to slow him down but thankfully we got people that we can kind of throw at him. We got Joel down there protecting us. But 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 try to get W’s and try to win this series, we have to match that. And not just match it, but we have to overcome that and be better than that and be extremely physical as well. I think we know what we have to do.”

Nicolas Batum

On the challenge the Knicks will give Philly...

“They’re a great, JB’s a great player, but at the end of the day, it’s gonna be Philadelphia vs. New York. We’ve just got to come ready to play and stop them.”

”They got our number this year. They came in twice in this place and pretty much kicked our butt twice. It’s a different atmosphere, so it’s gonna be a great series.”