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The Knicks play the 76ers at the Garden tonight. The Sixers have a terrible record and, by design, play almost exclusively young guys who wouldn't even make rosters elsewhere. If the Knicks play careful, assertive ball like they did over the weekend, they should win easily. If they don't, the Sixers can run them to death. They've done it before (and made me grumpy), albeit with the since-traded Evan Turner leading the way. If the Knicks are serious about this playoff shit, they'll have this game won by the third quarter.
There are some pre-game things:
1. Tyson Chandler will miss the game for personal reasons. I haven't heard what the issue is, but I hope very much it's something relatively minor. In Chandler's absence, the Knicks will go very small with Amar'e Stoudemire at the five and Iman Shumpert joining the starting lineup.
2. Shannon Brown and Earl Clark are still on the team and will be for the next ten days. They both signed their contracts standing up.
3. Carmelo Anthony was Player of the Week last week. Good work! Keep it up, Melo.
Tip-off tonight is at 7:30 on MSG. This is your game thread. This is Liberty Ballers. Please don't post large photos, GIFs, or links to illegal streams in the thread. Four straight, eh?