The New York Knicks are off to the Eastern Conference Semifinals after a relatively effortless six-game takedown of the Atlanta Hawks.

Meanwhile, the remainder of the Eastern Conference’s first-round series are still going on. That includes the matchup between the second-seeded Boston Celtics and the seventh-seeded Philadelphia 76ers, which is headed to Game 7.

The winner will take on New York.

But which team should Knicks fans prefer to see?

Let’s find out.

Tale of the tape

Firstly, here is a look at the Knicks’ head-to-head performance against each team in the 2025-26 regular season:

  • vs. Philadelphia: 2-2, +8.0 point differential
  • vs. Boston: 3-1, +8.0 point differential

While Boston was clearly the better team throughout the year, Philadelphia actually gave New York more trouble. The Knicks split with the 76ers, with the road team winning each contest, while the Celtics only took one out of four games. That was way back on December 4, with OG Anunoby sidelined.

In terms of point differential, though, New York put up an identical performance against their two Atlantic Division rivals. However, it’s worth noting that the Knicks’ 49-point blowout over Philadelphia in February overshadows the fact that New York only narrowly won the other game (112-109 on January 24) and lost by a combined 20 points in their two defeats.

It should be noted that these eight games wouldn’t mean much when it comes to projecting a playoff series, as both Boston and Philadelphia were not at full strength for most of their games with New York.

Joel Embiid played in just two games against the Knicks. Those matchups were split. There was only one game in which Philadelphia’s current five of Embiid, Tyrese Maxey, Paul George, and VJ Edgecombe played against the Knicks; New York won 112-109 on January 24.

The Knicks also had to play just one game against Jayson Tatum, although they won that game 112-106 on April 9.

Let’s talk about matchups. What would be the pros and cons of New York facing each team?

Philadelphia

Pro: 76ers’ lack of shooting

One of the Knicks’ main weaknesses in the regular season was their three-point defense. They ranked 20th in opponent three-point shooting (36.2%) and 21st in opponent threes made per game (13.9).

The Atlanta Hawks were equipped to exploit this, as they ranked fifth in three-point percentage (37.1%) and sixth in made threes per game (14.6) during the regular season. But the Knicks’ rejuvenated defense still shut them down, holding Atlanta to 11.3 made threes per game on 31.2% shooting.

This would be scary news for the 76ers, who are much less equipped than the Hawks to rain threes.

In the regular season, Philly ranked 22nd in made threes per game (12.3) and 23rd in three-point percentage (34.9%). They haven’t been any better in their series against Boston, draining 11.7 threes per game on 34.7% shooting.

If you can’t make threes against the Knicks, you aren’t going to win a seven-game series. In the regular season, New York went 20-4 when holding opponents to 12 made threes (Philly’s season average) or fewer. The Knicks were just 33-25 if their opponent could make at least 13 threes.

The 76ers might not have enough offensive firepower to outscore New York four times out of seven.

Con: Size to contend with Knicks’ frontcourt

From a roster standpoint, the Knicks’ biggest advantage going into the Atlanta series was their size in the frontcourt. Karl-Anthony Towns and Mitchell Robinson were the two most dominant paint presences across both rosters, and that was glaringly apparent across the series.

Against Philadelphia, though, Towns and Robinson wouldn’t have the same physical advantage they did against Atlanta. Joel Embiid and Andre Drummond can go toe-to-toe with New York’s bigs (from a size and physicality standpoint, at least).

Embiid isn’t the rebounder he once was; he averaged a career-low 7.7 boards per game in the regular season, and has only snatched 8.0 per game in the Boston series. Nonetheless, his presence would change everything for the Knicks on both ends.

Offensively, Embiid would force the Knicks to deal with a rim protector who dwarfs (figuratively and literally) anyone the Hawks could offer. Defensively, Embiid can force the Knicks to pack the paint in ways they did not have to against a small Atlanta team. When Drummond checks in, he will demand a body on the glass.

Boston

Pro: Erratic offensive play style

While the Celtics’ three-point-happy style helps them stockpile regular season wins, it leaves them extremely prone to down games over the course of a playoff series.

In their three losses during this series, the Celtics have shot 29.3%, 28.2%, and 26.0% from downtown. That’s on 43.3 attempts per game across those three contests, so we’re talking about a lot of bricks.

Of course, when Boston gets hot, they are extremely difficult to beat. In their three wins, the Celtics shot 45.3%, 42.6%, and 36.4%, coming on 48.0 attempts per game. That’s 20.0 makes a night. Good luck keeping up.

The problem with Boston’s strategy in the playoffs is that series are decided by who gets the most wins over seven games, not who has the best point differential.

Boston’s three-point-happy approach maximizes points per possession, yes, but it decreases consistency. This means that the Celtics can run up the score when they’re clicking (hence, their three wins in this series are by an average of 24.0 points), but since they are relying on a low-percentage shot as the bread-and-butter of their offense, they are prone to going ice-cold on any given night—especially in the playoffs, where they are always facing a quality team with playoff energy.

So, while it would be easy to say that Boston’s three-point shooting makes them a bad matchup for the Knicks, it’s actually the reason New York could steal a couple of gift-wrapped wins to tilt the tide of the series. We just saw it last year, after all.

When the Knicks stormed into Boston and stole back-to-back road wins to open the series, the Celtics shot 25% in each game. That was on a combined 100 attempts, meaning the Celtics missed 75 threes in two games, an absurd 37.5 misses per night.

The Celtics took control in both games, going up by as much as 20 points, but their reliance on a low-percentage shot caused them to go cold in each second half, opening the door for New York to slowly climb back into the game. If the Celtics were more willing to take higher-percentage twos, even at the cost of points per possession, it would have maximized their chances of preserving the lead. Instead, their point-hunting cost them what matters most: the win.

Boston is still playing this way a year later, especially now that Jayson Tatum is back. It might cost them for a second straight season. If the 76ers don’t benefit on Saturday, perhaps the Knicks will once again.

Con: Switchability on defense

Once the Knicks stopped fooling around with their iso-Jalen Brunson offense, it was obvious that the Hawks had no answers for New York’s vast quantity of weapons. Outside of Dyson Daniels, Atlanta lacked the switchable stoppers necessary to slow down a well-rounded offensive roster like New York’s.

The Celtics will not have the same issue. Their roster is stacked from top to bottom with aggressive, versatile defenders who will play hard for every minute and can switch onto multiple positions.

New York will have to confront the challenge of having Karl-Anthony Towns guarded by quality small defenders. Players like Derrick White and Payton Pritchard will give Towns trouble.

The Hawks didn’t have any wing players with the intensity, strength, or defensive skill to hang with Towns, forcing them to rely on their bigs to guard him. That was easy money for Towns, who consistently blew by any of the bigs that Atlanta threw at him. It was a no-win scenario for Atlanta.

Boston, though, will have a plethora of counters to throw at the Knicks. They have small defenders who can guard Towns, and they also have a big in Neemias Queta who has the blend of size and athleticism to guard him more effectively than Atlanta’s bigs.

The Knicks won’t have as many easy answers for Boston’s defense as they did for Atlanta. Scoring on the Celtics will require creative ideas from Mike Brown and elite execution on the players’ part.

The verdict?

All things considered, it’s safe to say that Philadelphia would be New York’s preferred option.

This is not to say that the Knicks cannot defeat Boston; obviously, they can. They did it last year, and this version of the Celtics does not look as formidable, whereas the Knicks appear stronger than they were a year ago.

At the end of the day, though, the 76ers are every bit of a seventh-seeded team, while the Celtics are a 56-win team that added a superstar less than a month ago.

If the 76ers win, it doesn’t prove they are as dangerous as the Celtics. It would mostly be the byproduct of Boston falling victim to their overreliance on threes. The Knicks would benefit from an aberration that stems from the Celtics going cold on threes at the wrong time.

Due to their lack of three-point shooting, the 76ers do not have nearly as high an offensive ceiling as the Celtics. That would be extremely problematic against a Knicks team that just racked up a 122.0 offensive rating in a six-game series with one of the NBA’s best defenses over the last few months.

The Celtics are far better equipped than the 76ers to outpace the Knicks over seven games. They have arguably the highest offensive ceiling in the NBA thanks to their three-point volume, and defensively, they have more answers to offer than the 76ers.

New York fans should be thrilled if a fourth ice-cold shooting game from Boston gifts the Knicks an opportunity to play an inferior 76ers team.

At the same time, the Knicks will still be in great shape if the Celtics win. This first-round series has proven that Boston’s three-point shooting is as much of a curse as it is a gift.

Against a Knicks team that built the largest halftime lead in playoff history while making just seven threes (and scored 64 in the first half of Game 5 with just three threes), the Celtics’ offense might be too erratic to win four games out of seven. The Knicks are racking up points in a more sustainable fashion, which is more conducive to winning games at a consistent rate, even if the points-per-possession might look similar in the aggregate.

Still, Philly is who Knicks fans should prefer. If the Celtics get hot in a series, it’s probably game over. If the Sixers get hot, the Knicks should still have enough advantages to prevail more often than not.

With that being said, no team in the Eastern Conference looks more formidable than New York right now, and Knicks fans have the right to be confident about their team’s chances against any of the other six remaining teams.