Paul Reed and the Sixers can silence Knicks fans’ chants by crashing the boards better

“With a team like this, you really got to keep guys off the glass,” Reed said.

Sixers forward Paul Reed grabs a rebound against New York Knicks center Mitchell Robinson during Game 1.Read moreYong Kim / Staff Photographer

Published April 22, 2024, 3:46 p.m. ET

NEW YORK — If Joel Embiid is public enemy No. 1 to New York Knicks fans, Paul Reed is a close second.

Both 76ers centers received “[Bleep] you!” chants for the Madison Square Garden sellout crowd Saturday during Game 1 of the teams’ first-round series. The expectation is Knicks fans will continue chanting in Monday’s Game 2 and if the series heads back to the Big Apple for Game 5.

Embiid is disliked for his dominance against the Knicks over the years. Fans detest Reed for his comments after the Sixers beat the Miami Heat Wednesday in the NBA Play-In Tournament to clinch the seventh seed.

That set up a first-round matchup against the second-seeded Knicks instead of the top-seeded Boston Celtics.

During Thursday’s appearance on FanDuel TV’s Run It Back, Reed was asked if avoiding the Celtics was the plan.

“We ain’t ducking no smoke,” he said, “but yeah, we wanted the Knicks matchup, of course. That’s the easier team.”

Reed was asked about those comments before Monday’s shootaround.

“At the end of the day, I could have worded it differently,” he said. “But I said it and I got to stand on it. I ain’t tripping. … Like I said, I’m not worried. Could I have worded it differently? Yeah, but it’s too late now.”

Reed has never been afraid to say what he means. And he has an opportunity to silence the fans in this series.

The 6-foot-9, 220-pounder scored four points on 2-for-3 shooting along with five rebounds — three offensive — and a block in 11 minutes, 27 seconds in Game 1. Too eager, Reed was out of position a lot. He tried to block shots he didn’t need to go after. That led to the players he was assigned to guard roaming free and scoring easy putback baskets.

The Sixers believe he’ll be fine moving forward after showing him what he did wrong during film review. They’ll also look to utilize him in lineups alongside Embiid to limit the Knicks’ offensive rebounds. New York had 23 offensive boards while outrebounding the Sixers, 55-33, in Game 1.

Reed is excited about the opportunity to play alongside Embiid as a power forward.

“It’s not that different for me,” he said. “Sometimes when I play [center] I’m on the perimeter as well. So it’s kind of like the same type of feel.”

In regards to offensive spacing, Reed said he would make sure Embiid has a driving lane.

“I’ll get to the dunker [spot] if he has the ball sometimes cutting,” Reed said, “or either sometimes stay moving or seal my defender to get one of the other guys open. They are always going to double them. So that’s just about making sure somebody is open.”

Looking to limit the Knicks’ offensive rebounds, Reed said the simple answer is blocking out. But he knows a lot of teams tried that and New York still averaged a league-best 12.7 in the regular season.

“With a team like this, you really have to keep guys off the glass like Josh Hart, Isaiah Hartenstein, Mitchell Robinson,” he said. “We have to kind of single those guys out and make sure they’re not getting rebounds, for sure.”

With Embiid hampered by his surgically repaired left knee, Reed knows he’ll share a lot of that responsibility. He must crash the boards, provide solid defense, and make the necessary hustle plays. And he welcomes that.

“That’s the reason I’m in the league,” Reed said. “One of the main reasons I made it this far is crashing and playing hard and playing defense.”

And if he’s successful, Reed could help turn this series around. In the process, he could silence Knicks fans and their chants.

But hushing them isn’t his goal. He swears that he didn’t even hear their chants. Reed was too busy focusing on the game, and making an impact.

“At the end of the day,” he said, ‘that’s my job.”