CAMDEN, N.J. -- The preseason is over for the Philadelphia 76ers. The focus is shifting from dress rehearsals and warm-up games to ones that actually matter. The beginning of a long 82-game grind for a team expected to contend for a championship.
The Sixers will be tested right away as they will open by paying a visit to the defending champion New York Knicks on Tuesday night. Philadelphia was swept by the Knicks in the second round of the playoffs back in May as the Knicks romped their way to their first title since 1973.
Now, coach Nick Nurse and Co. are looking to make a statement on opening night.
"We’re looking forward to it," said Nurse. "It’s a great rivalry now, for sure. I mean, it has been for a long time, but right now, it’s kind of
currently heating up a little bit. It’s certainly a tremendous test for us, and we’ll see. I think my biggest thing is I understand that they’ve been together forever, and there’s kind of little pet things that they can do that add up. I just kind of want to see where our compete level is when the ball goes up for real. That’s the most interesting thing for me."
The Sixers will certainly be challenged in the rebounding department by the Knicks. They are a well-connected group and they have a ton of size and great rebounders from Karl-Anthony Towns to Josh Hart to OG Anunoby to former Sixers big man Andre Drummond. Philadelphia had issues rebounding at times in the preseason and that will be something to watch on opening night.
"We got challenged in the preseason for sure with the rebounding," Nurse acknowledged. "But again, I don't want to. I mean, listen, it's still. Well, I guess I have to say it's the 1A priority. One is getting our defense back and started, which was also a problem last year. So I keep saying this: starting and ending our defense are number one and number two on our overall board of things we're trying to do better. So again, I don't want to read too much into it quite yet."
Nurse and the staff are drilling it into the Sixers that they need to get after it on the glass. It will certainly be a big factor on opening night. The Knicks will make it tough for everybody in Philadelphia to truly get after it.
"Again, just with the instincts and size and some of the things," Nurse finished. "Offensively, there's been some good segments, offensive rebounding as well, but nothing that has sustained itself. But again, you gotta take those games with a little bit of a grain of salt, I think. So you'll see here pretty quickly where we are going to stack up. I know that they've accepted the challenge of making that at least one of their priorities. They've been asked and done very well at all the drills."
This article originally appeared on Sixers Wire: Nick Nurse discusses preparing Sixers to face Knicks on opening night
