{"id":75618,"date":"2025-12-19T16:09:14","date_gmt":"2025-12-19T16:09:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/75618\/"},"modified":"2025-12-19T16:09:14","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T16:09:14","slug":"previewing-sixers-knicks-checking-in-on-guerschon-yabusele-can-new-york-finally-win-the-eastern-conference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/75618\/","title":{"rendered":"Previewing Sixers-Knicks: Checking in on Guerschon Yabusele; can New York finally win the Eastern Conference?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Sixers’ second four-day layoff in as many weeks is over, and on Friday they will kick off their latest back-to-back with their first trip of the season to Madison Square Garden, facing the NBA Cup champion New York Knicks fresh off a last-second win<\/a> over the Pacers in Indiana on Thursday night.<\/p>\n

While the Sixers and Knicks have yet to face off in the 2025-26 regular season, they matched up for a pair of exhibitions on a trip to Abu Dhabi to kick off their preseason slates. Even before that, there was no lack of familiarity here.<\/p>\n

If the Sixers want to make a serious push in the Eastern Conference once the\u00a0playoffs arrive, though, perhaps no team poses a greater threat than New York. Here to get us up to speed on all things Knicks \u2013 and do some reminiscing about the epic playoff series between these teams two years ago \u2013 is Dan Devine<\/a>, who does stellar work covering the NBA for Yahoo Sports<\/a>.\u00a0Dan also co-hosts The Big Number<\/a> with Tom Haberstroh, a weekly stats-focused NBA show that you can find wherever you get your podcasts \u2014 and, starting Monday, on the brand new Yahoo NBA YouTube page<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Let’s talk to Dan:<\/p>\n

Adam Aaronson:\u00a0Many Sixers fans were gutted to see Guerschon Yabusele depart for New York when the Knicks gave him their taxpayer\u2019s mid-level exception over the summer. So far, though, Yabusele has not given the Knicks the same spark he gave the Sixers. What have you made of Yabusele\u2019s disappointing season so far, and do you think it is reasonable to hope he surges later on?<\/p>\n

Dan Devine:\u00a0Yeah, I think everybody\u2019s been frustrated with it \u2014 Yabusele himself, as he recently told French media<\/a>, and the Knicks fans who saw him provide really good minutes in Philly as a burly 4\/small-ball 5 who could stretch the floor and move well in space, and are wondering where that guy\u2019s been since \u2026 well, preseason, frankly, because he only shot like 31 percent in the exhibition games<\/a>, too.<\/p>\n

To some degree, Yabusele\u2019s been a victim of the quality of the rotation that Leon Rose and the rest of New York\u2019s front office has built. Mike Brown has said that while he can play 10 guys, it\u2019ll probably wind up being more like 9.5 \u2014 that whoever\u2019s last in that pecking order\u2019s going to get shorted more often than not. And, more often than not, that\u2019s been Yabu.<\/p>\n

Jalen Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns, OG Anunoby, Mikal Bridges and Josh Hart\u2019s names are written in Sharpie. Mitchell Robinson has been mostly healthy, is a monster on the glass, and offers more paint protection, so he slots in ahead of Yabu as the backup 5. You need a backup point guard to spell Brunson; that\u2019s Deuce McBride when he\u2019s healthy, and Tyler Kolek when he\u2019s not. Jordan Clarkson offers shot creation and complementary ball-handling in the second unit; Sixers legend Landry Shamet was both shooting the cover off the ball and defending really well before reinjuring his shoulder.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s 10 dudes before you even get to Yabu, which means he\u2019s on the outside looking in until an injury opens the door or unless he shows enough during his limited floor time to kick it open \u2026 and he just really hasn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

With Towns and Robinson entrenched at the 5, he\u2019s seen more of his minutes come at power forward \u2014 a spot where he doesn\u2019t often get to set ball screens, make plays in space or attack the basket downhill, but rather is more often asked to space the floor as a spot-up threat and knock down shots to avoid gumming up New York\u2019s offense. He\u2019s taking fewer shots at the rim than he ever has in his NBA career, according to Cleaning the Glass<\/a>, and a full 33% of his shot attempts this season have been corner 3s \u2014 nearly triple the rate from last season in Philly. At the risk of oversimplifying things: A version of Yabu who shoots 38 percent from 3 is a hell of a lot more valuable than one who shoots 29.5 percent, especially in an offense that takes the seventh-most long balls in the league<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The glass-half-full take: If the shooting returns to last year\u2019s levels, maybe the rest of Yabu\u2019s game comes with it, and he\u2019s able to provide the kind of small-ball change-of-pace that the Knicks hoped for, giving Brown another option to experiment with as he tries to prepare for what might await New York in the playoffs. More pessimistically: Yabusele\u2019s best shot at a resurgence might lie in another city, if the Knicks can find a way to turn his $5.5 million salary into a player who might better fit what Brown needs.<\/p>\n

MORE: Why Sixers let Yabusele walk<\/a><\/p>\n

AA:\u00a0As I enter Madison Square Garden, I will think fondly of the epic six-game playoff series between these teams two years ago, from Tyrese Maxey\u2019s season-saving heroics in Game 5 to Donte DiVincenzo\u2019s wild game-winner in Game 2 and a whole lot of other chaos. What is your defining memory from that series?<\/p>\n

DD:\u00a0Oh, man. Immediate gut answer: Joel Embiid going off the glass to himself for that dunk in Game 1, then immediately going down holding his knee.<\/p>\n

The swell and swirl of emotions in that moment was insane \u2014 the inimitable sound and feeling of like 20,000 people all going, \u201coh, S—!\u201d at the same time, followed by the uncomfortable arena-wide murmuring after he stayed down on his back, staring into the rafters, and being on press row rifling through my mental Rolodex about what it could all mean for the series, for his career, for (most important of all) my writing responsibilities that night, etc.<\/p>\n

And then, y\u2019know, he gets up and plays 36 minutes and is the best player on the floor for pretty much all of them, and two games later he scores 50 and reveals he\u2019s been dealing with Bell\u2019s palsy, and everything was, and remains, perfectly normal with respect to Joel Embiid\u2019s health and the way it\u2019s handled.<\/p>\n

(Also: I think the DiVincenzo double bang 3 might\u2019ve been the loudest moment I\u2019ve ever experienced live; the word-association term attached to it in my brain is \u201ctotal cacophony.\u201d And, if memory serves, I was having such a hard time nailing down all the details of how I wanted to write about the Maxey game<\/a> that I wound up getting kicked out of the MSG media room, which closes a couple of hours after pressers end, and filing from an ATM vestibule on 34th Street. A glamorous job!)<\/p>\n

A note from Adam: that was also the loudest moment I have ever experienced live, and I wrote a whole lot of words about Maxey’s heroics<\/a> on the same Amtrak ride home that I will be boarding so late on Friday night that it will technically be Saturday morning.<\/p>\n

MORE:\u00a0Maxey’s new signature skill, and welcome to the beginning of NBA trade season<\/a><\/p>\n

AA:\u00a0Back to the current Knicks: it seems clear that, given the state of the Eastern Conference, this is their best chance to make an NBA Finals run. Which Eastern Conference contender should give New York most pause in a seven-game series?<\/p>\n

DD:\u00a0I\u2019d say the Pistons anyway, because they\u2019re 21-5, and because a worse version of that team gave the Knicks the absolute blues last spring in a six-game series that absolutely could\u2019ve swung the other way if the younger, less experienced team had been able to hold onto a fourth-quarter lead in Game 1, or if the result of one of three one-possession Knicks wins had flipped.<\/p>\n

But I also feel like I have to say Detroit right now, because \u2026 I mean, at this point, is there even another Eastern contender besides Detroit?<\/p>\n

The Cavs look like a shell of last year\u2019s model, positively haunted whenever Donovan Mitchell isn\u2019t lighting it up, with Darius Garland hobbled, The Next Evan Mobley Leap still buffering, and a yawning chasm in shot creation and just overall verve where Ty Jerome used to be. The Magic are four games over .500 and can never seem to get all their best players on the floor at the same time. Giannis would be scary in a seven-game series, but Milwaukee\u2019s an 11-16 11th seed.<\/p>\n

MORE:\u00a0Reacting to Jared McCain trade talk; what’s enabled Sixers’ defensive turnaround?<\/a><\/p>\n

Honestly? The answer might be Boston. The Knicks are a good-but-not-great defensive team that struggles to stall dribble penetration at the point of attack and gives up 40 3s a night<\/a>. The Celtics have Jaylen Brown, Derrick White, Payton Pritchard and Anfernee Simons all capable of breaking you down off the bounce, make more 3s than anybody but Golden State<\/a>, and are extremely capable of hunting Brunson and KAT in pick-and-roll defense to get whatever shots they want. They torched the Knicks to the tune of 137.1 points per 100 possessions in a win earlier this month<\/a> \u2014 the second-worst defensive showing of the season<\/a> for New York \u2014 and it didn\u2019t feel like an anomaly.<\/p>\n

Yes, the Knicks beat a better version of this Celtics team in Round 2 last season. Still: Barring some significant improvements on the defensive end, I don\u2019t think that\u2019s a rematch New York would be particularly excited to deal with \u2014 especially if Jayson Tatum can actually make it back onto the floor by springtime, which seems both nuts and also stunningly possible.<\/p>\n

Follow Adam on Twitter: @SixersAdam<\/a>
Follow PhillyVoice on Twitter: @thephillyvoice<\/a>