The Sixers hired Nick Nurse to get out of the second round. Now they have a path to do it.

NEW YORK — Forget about winning an NBA championship for a moment.

In the scenario in which the 76ers defeat the New York Knicks in the first round, will they even reach the Eastern Conference finals?

As the No. 7 seed in their first-round series, which begins at 6 p.m. Saturday at Madison Square Garden, they would avoid a nightmare second-round matchup with the top-seed Boston Celtics. But because of injuries to the Milwaukee Bucks’ best players, the more likely outcome has them in line to face an Indiana Pacers squad that defeated them in two of this season’s three meetings in the conference semifinals.

Despite that regular-season outcome, the Sixers would be favored if Joel Embiid can stay healthy. The 7-foot-2, 280-pounder is the league’s most dominant player. And the Sixers could be the East’s most talented team outside of Boston.

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But, according to recent history, the second round is where Sixers teams go to die.

That’s why so much was made about Nick Nurse‘s hiring on June 1. The former Toronto Raptors coach was brought in to advance the team to the conference finals or beyond for the first time since 2001. And he embraced the assignment from Day 1.

“You guys have mentioned the second round to me twice, already,” Nurse said during his introductory news conference. “And we are going to hit that head on. Like we know we’re judged on how we play in the playoffs. It was the same at Toronto. We hadn’t played that well and certain players hadn’t played that well and all those kinds of things.

“So the reality is that’s the truth. I will imagine from Day 1 we are going to talk about that, and that we are going to try to attack that. And we are going to have to rise above it.”

Nurse guided the Raptors to their lone NBA title as a first-year head coach in 2019. We’ll find out in the coming weeks how his first tenure with the Sixers will conclude. But there’s some optimism because of Nurse’s outside-the-box coaching style and Embiid’s return from a torn meniscus.

But after tweaking the knee on April 12, Embiid’s mobility will be watched closely. And for good reason as Embiid elevated his play in the fourth quarter despite being hampered by his knee for much of Wednesday’s NBA Play-In Tournament victory over the Miami Heat.

Embiid is officially listed as questionable for Game 1, but is expected to play.

As for Nurse, Sixers players noticed changes in the coach’s game preparation leading into the postseason.

“It’s just a lot more counters,” Kelly Oubre Jr. said. “The regular season, we’ll go through the game plan and go through certain things, but that’s kind of the script before the game. That’s what you go out and do. But we have a lot of counters and a lot of things that we’re working on just to always stay ready for any situation.”

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Containing Jalen Brunson is one thing the Sixers are determined to do in this series. The Knicks point guard and former Villanova standout was the league’s fourth-leading scorer, averaging 28.7 points. In four meetings against the Sixers, Brunson averaged 22.3 points, 7.8 assists, and 3.0 rebounds.

“It’s a broken record time for me,” Nurse said. “He’s a great player. We’re gonna try to make him work. We’ve got a lot of guys that will probably end up spending time on him and guarding him. Obviously, we’ve done a few different things with him through the course of the year. A lot of different schemes and stuff that we got ready to go. So that’s where it starts, right?”

With Brunson leading the way, the Knicks won three of four regular-season meetings against the Sixers this season. Embiid was only available in the first game, finishing with 30 points and 10 rebounds. But All-Star guard Tyrese Maxey averaged 26.3 points and 6.0 assists in three games against the Knicks.

The Sixers are expecting the Knicks to play physical and attempt to get their key scorers out of rhythm.

“And you have to be smart, too,” Oubre said. “So keeping our brains intact while we’re being physical and playing football-like basketball. I think it’ll be the better team with the highest IQ who can make changes and counter the aggression … they’re going to be the [winners].

“But at the end of the day, Coach Nurse is a wizard when it comes to understanding game plans and getting us ready to play. So I’m going to just listen to whatever he has to say and go out and do it.”

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And with Nurse leading the way, the Sixers hope this is the first step to a deep postseason run.