Zach Lowe

Everyone that they've thrown in off the bench has been productive.

Alvarado, Shamit gets in the last two games with Ananobi injured and just plays his ass off, including guarding Oubre.

Clarkson, another guy who's score, score, score.

All of a sudden, he's throwing better passes, playing better defense.

Like, everyone has contributed.

But to me, it's Bridges and Cat that have kind of changed the vibe of the team.

And look, whoever comes out of the East is going to be an underdog in the finals, whether it's Oklahoma City or San Antonio.

Maybe not if it's Minnesota, given their injury issues.

And we can't count out Minnesota.

And I think the Knicks are the best team in the East.

We'll see how the conference finals goes.

But this Knicks team playing like this, and obviously the competition is going to skyrocket from an Atlanta team who laid down and died in a game that I still can't even believe happened in real life.

And a Sixers team who, what a couple of weeks for the Sixers.

Their fans get to enjoy the version of this team that they dreamed of and imagined.

It happens.

They eliminate the hated Boston Celtics, the bane of their existence.

They get to the next round, and Embiid gets hurt again a bunch of different ways on his body and wears down in a flat-footed shell of himself on defense.

It was 8 of 8 in the last game.

Like, you can't hate on that.

20-whatever points on 8 of 8.