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The 76ers know the storm they are walking into.
The Knicks will be raising their championship banners and collecting their rings during a heavily anticipated pregame ceremony ahead of their season-opener against the 76ers Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden.
For a 76ers team – now with LeBron James and Jaylen Brown as part of a core that already had Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe – with their own championship expectations, it will be a gauntlet of Knicks emotions and celebrations.
“The environment is gonna be tough,” Kentavious Caldwell-Pope said Tuesday morning during 76ers shootaround at MSG. “There’s gonna be a lot of people in here, it’s their ring ceremony night. It’s gonna be a long night for us. But just gonna be competitive. I know they’re gonna come out ready but we just gotta be ready as well.”
Embiid has already said that he plans to stay in the locker room during the ceremony.
But once the game starts, are the 76ers relishing the opportunity to spoil the festivities? To make a statement of their own?
“We’re not looking at it that way,” Caldwell-Pope said. “But it’s always fun competition when you can. I’ve had a few ruin my [ring] nights before, it’s not fun. But my team, we want to start off great as well. So if it’s their ring night, they gotta take the first loss.”
Caldwell-Pope has won two championships – with the Lakers in 2020 and with the Nuggets in ‘23.
He knows what banner and ring night entails.
“You have to just focus on one thing at a time,” Caldwell-Pope said.
“It’s gonna be a lot of emotions going on. They get their rings, it’s gonna be so much emotion. Their families are gonna be here. The atmosphere is gonna be crazy.”