Joel Embiid is asking Philadelphia 76ers fans to keep their tickets for the team’s second-round series with the New York Knicks, and the organization is doing its part to try to limit an onslaught of Knicks fans in the building for Games 3, 4 and 6 (if necessary).
The 76ers put those tickets on sale Sunday but put terms in place to try to keep them in the hands of Sixers fans. A disclaimer on the team’s website said that “sales to this event will be restricted to residents of Greater Philadelphia area. Residency will be based on credit card billing address. Orders by residents outside Greater Philadelphia area will be canceled without notice and refunds given.”
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The 76ers, and Embiid, are on heightened alert about keeping Knicks fans out of their building after they visited Philadelphia in swarms the last two times the teams faced each other in the playoffs. Knicks fans were a large, vocal group at 76ers home games during the first round of the 2024 playoffs.
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Embiid wants to avoid a repeat of that. He asked 76ers fans to keep their tickets instead of selling them on the secondary market, and the 76ers are trying to keep them out by managing the ticket sales for the upcoming games.
“I just have a message for our fans,” Embiid said Saturday night after the 76ers beat the Boston Celtics in Game 7. “Last time we played the Knicks, it felt like this was Madison Square Garden East. We’re going to need the support. Don’t sell your tickets. This is bigger than you. We need you guys. The atmosphere the last couple games in Philly, especially the last one, pushing it to Game 7, we need all of it. I don’t care if it’s 70/30. Knicks fans, they travel and they’re going to buy the tickets, and there’s going to be some people that need the money and that are probably going to sell tickets. But don’t do it. We need you guys. We got a pretty good chance. We going to need that support. We going to need them to be extremely loud. And if you need money, I got you.”
It’s not a surprise that this was top of mind for Embiid on Saturday in the hour after the 76ers advanced to the second round with a gritty Game 7 win over the Celtics. They came back from a 3-1 series deficit to beat Boston and snatched a win on the road to keep themselves alive in the postseason.
Embiid was vocal about the same issue two years ago. He said it was “disappointing” that there were so many Knicks fans at the then-Wells Fargo Center for a Game 4 loss to the Knicks.
“Obviously, you got a lot of Knicks fans, and they’re down the road, and I’ve never seen it, and I’ve been here for 10 years,” Embiid said then. “Yeah, it kind of pisses me off, especially because Philly is considered a sports town. They’ve always shown up, and I don’t think that should happen. Yeah. It’s not OK.”