Knicks vs. 76ers: Halftime Thoughts From Game 5

The countdown to the second round is officially on.

The New York Knicks are officially 24 minutes away from advancement following a dominant second quarter, leading the Philadelphia 76ers 49-43 at halftime of Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals. Jalen Brunson lead the way once again with 15 points on the New York end, hitting seven of his first 10 from the field.

With the Bojan Bogdanovic's season, the Knicks are opting to go with a seven-man set in the immediate aftermath, sticking with Isaiah Hartenstein and a relatively healed Mitchell Robinson in lieu of Precious Achiuwa. So far, that's working in their favor: Robinson is back with a vengeance by leading the Knicks in rebounding and also putting up two blocks. The loyalty to seven has forced Brunson and Josh Hart (having sunk three shots after he was 0-of-7 in Game 4) to play all 24 minutes thus far, but so screams the relative desperation of victory.

With Bogdanovic out, Alec Burks seemed to be next in line, but the Knicks have not only stuck with the seven but they're also bestowing more responsibilities to Miles McBride. The third-year reserve, now an indispensable part of the Knicks' rotation, was a team-best plus-7 in his 15 minutes of action and continued to showcase his stroke from three-point range. Time will tell if the Knicks stick with the seven-man unit and show further faith in McBride, but he's fully living up to such hype so far.

As it's been proven time and time again in this series and season, the Knicks can survive an Embiid/Maxey onslaught but they're in trouble if they let Philadelphia's secondary scoring options get hot. They held a limping Embiid to just 3-of-10 in the opening half, by far his worst two-period stretch in this series so far. Alas for the Knicks, Tobias Harris broke through for 10 points while Embiid managed to contribute further with nine rebounds, perhaps truly putting the V in MVP despite struggles, much like Brunson in the first two stanzas. If Philadelphia can continue scoring as a team, at least one more game might be left on their docket.