Take that Knicks scoreline with some salt. The Bulls were missing Nic Claxton, Patrick Williams and Tobe Awaka, and they've given up 124 or more in all 5 of their games. Scoring 133 on that defense doesn't tell you much about scoring on Philadelphia. Plenty of Sixers habits will travel, though. They gave up a 36-13 3rd quarter in Indiana, and they lost 106-93 at home to Detroit earlier in the week. This team hasn't played a clean 48 yet.
The matchup to watch is down low. Ariel Hukporti is done for the season with a ruptured Achilles. Tacko Fall (quad), Jabari Walker (knee) and Dominick Barlow (back, at least 2 weeks) were all out in Indiana. Adem Bona picked up 2 quick fouls there and pushed Nick Nurse into small-ball lineups. Philadelphia is still working out what it does when Embiid sits, and Towns just grabbed 20 rebounds in a game. Every minute Embiid spends on the bench or in foul trouble is a minute New York can go after the glass.
So it comes down to this. Philadelphia already has the head-to-head, the better record and the backcourt that has been finishing games. New York has the Brunson-Towns pairing, has started to look like itself after an 0-3 start, and gets a frontcourt matchup that favors it whenever Embiid sits. Both teams arrive having just come back from 4th-quarter deficits. Whoever doesn't need another one on Friday probably wins.