Knicks at 76ers
The New York Knicks are 5 1/2 games in front of the Philadelphia 76ers in the standings, but one would never know it by the soundbites coming out of the respective locker rooms. The struggling Knicks hope to have absent point guard Derrick Rose available when they visit the surging 76ers on Wednesday.
Philadelphia matched its win total from all of last season with its 10th victory on Sunday - a 105-95 triumph in Brooklyn - and has its sights set on making a bigger leap up the Eastern Conference standings. "I think we have a chance (to make the playoffs)," Rookie center Joel Embiid told reporters. "We've been hot lately. We've won three out of four lately, so I look at it, and I think we have a chance, and we're really figuring things out. We're starting to learn how to win games." The Knicks are losers of eight of their last nine games and had no idea where Rose was when he no-showed for Monday's game before learning he had gone to Chicago to be with his mother. Rose was fined for leaving the team without permission but returned to practice on Tuesday and is expected to play on Wednesday.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, MSG (New York), CSN Philadelphia
ABOUT THE KNICKS (17-21): Rose's absence overshadowed some of the other issues in Monday's 110-96 home loss to the New Orleans Pelicans, including star forward Carmelo Anthony getting ejected for the third time this season. Anthony was upset about not getting foul calls and berated the officials, leading to a pair of technical fouls and the ejection. Anthony's frustration is spilling into the stands as well, where the home fans repeatedly booed the team on Monday while watching it allow at least 110 points for the sixth time in the last nine contests.
ABOUT THE 76ERS (10-25): Embiid scored 20 or more points in six straight games without logging even 30 minutes in any of those six contests and is the undisputed No. 1 option at center, but the team is still working out the rotation behind him. Jahlil Okafor did not play in either of the last two games while Nerlens Noel logged the minutes as Embiid's backup. "I think that we’re starting to get a little bit of a rotation, a rhythm to what we’re doing," Philadelphia coach Brett Brown told reporters. "You hear us talk all the time of that balance of giving people minutes, and growing people, and looking at things, versus trying to give your team the best chance of winning. Sometimes, they are mutually exclusive. There’s no book that tells you how to figure that out."
BUZZER BEATERS
1. 76ers PF Ersan Ilyasova is 5-of-21 from 3-point range in the last two games.
2. Knicks rookie SG Ron Baker played a season-high 25 minutes on Monday and collected six points, seven rebounds and four assists.
3. New York took the last five in the series, including both trips to Philadelphia last season.