The Knicks defeat the 76ers, 137-98, in Sport 1 of their Jap Convention semifinal collection to guide 1-0.
NEW YORK — The New York Knicks started their convention semifinals collection with the Philadelphia 76ers the identical manner they ended the primary spherical.
Their fourth straight blowout was a 137-98 victory in Sport 1 at Madison Sq. Backyard on Monday. The Sixers principally waived the white flag with 5:19 nonetheless left within the third quarter, when Paul George joined Tyrese Maxey and Joel Embiid on the bench.
One Philly starter (VJ Edgecombe) remained on the ground, however he checked out with rather less than 14 minutes nonetheless left within the recreation.
The Sixers hung with the Knicks for about seven minutes, however New York took management with a 15-4 run late within the first quarter. The Knicks led by 23 at halftime and basically put the sport away with six straight scores early within the third.
Jalen Brunson led the Knicks with 35 factors on an environment friendly 12-for-18 taking pictures. OG Anunoby, Mikal Bridges and Karl-Anthony Cities mixed to shoot 21-for-29, together with 8-for-12 from 3-point vary. The Knicks completed with an efficient area purpose proportion of 74.4%, the third highest single-game mark in NBA playoff historical past.
Listed here are some notes, quotes, numbers and movie because the Knicks stored rolling:
1. Six journeys, six scores, one play
“We received off to an honest begin, defensively,” stated Sixers coach Nick Nurse stated after his staff received clobbered. “Then we had, I feel, 5 – 6 mid[dle of the floor] pick-and-rolls in a row that they scored on in just about each manner they may.”
Certainly, after scoring simply as soon as on their earlier 5 possessions, the Knicks scored six straight occasions, and all of them got here straight from Brunson-Mitchell Robinson pick-and-rolls.
- Robinson rolled behind Embiid, and Brunson hit him with a lob.
- Brunson took a handoff from Robinson and hit a brief jumper within the paint.
- The Sixers had been answering on the opposite finish of the ground, however they couldn’t discover solutions on protection.Kelly Oubre Jr. received again in entrance of Brunson after one other display screen from Robinson, however Brunson received Oubre leaning with a depraved in-and-out dribble and beat him to the basket for a layup:
- The Sixers scored once more, however Brunson then rejected one other Robinson display screen, received George’s momentum going in a single route, after which hit him with a stepback jumper.
- After one other Sixers rating, Embiid blitzed the following Brunson-Robinson pick-and-roll. However Brunson simply dribbled round him and drained a pullup 3 that put the Knicks forward for good.
- After the Knicks received a cease, Quentin Grimes was in a position to navigate previous Robinson’s display screen and get again in entrance of Brunson, however Maxey gave Miles McBride a little bit an excessive amount of house within the strong-side nook. McBride took Brunson’s move and drained a nook 3.
It was six possessions the place the Knicks (principally) ran the identical motion six occasions, they usually resulted in 14 factors. The Sixers held up for some time, however they had been dusted after that.
2. 4 defenders, no stops
Jalen Brunson scores 35 factors, together with 27 within the 1st half, to guide the Knicks to a Sport 1 victory over the Sixers.
Over that six-possession sequence, the Sixers had 4 totally different defenders on Brunson. The Sixers started the sport with vanilla assignments, no main cross-matching in order that they may swap the Brunson-Cities pick-and-roll or put measurement on the Knicks’ level guard. Edgecombe had the project firstly.
They received a little bit funky out of an early timeout, placing Oubre on Cities. After which Oubre defended Brunson for a couple of possessions. When he checked out, George received a shot. Grimes got here off the bench and tried to protect him, and the Sixers even performed some zone.
None of it labored, and people six straight possessions within the first quarter had been simply the opening act. The Knicks scored on their ultimate 10 possessions of the second quarter, with Brunson scoring the ultimate 11 of the 23 factors these 10 possessions produced.
He received Embiid switched onto him throughout that stretch, and he made the Sixers’ massive man look foolish:
Brunson now has 26 playoff video games with at the very least 30 factors, and this was his best efficiency (true taking pictures proportion of 81.3%).
3. Sixers caught in mud
Because the Sixers got here again from a 3-1 deficit within the first spherical, they held the Boston Celtics’ second-ranked offense to only 100.3 factors per 100 possessions during the last three video games. That was Boston’s worst three-game stretch of offense all season.
However a brand new collection brings new challenges, and the Sixers’ protection received completely torched on Monday. The Knicks’ 137 factors on 98 possessions was Philadelphia’s worst defensive recreation of the season.
“That they had it going,” Nurse stated. “They’re an excellent staff they usually had been actually nice tonight.”
“We had breakdowns tonight,” George added, “however in addition they shot the [snot] out of the ball.”
The one factor that appeared to disturb the Knicks’ offensive rhythm was a pair of intentional fouls on Mitchell Robinson late within the first quarter. These really stopped that run of six straight scores within the first quarter, with Robinson going 0-for-4 from the road.
However as soon as Robinson subbed out, the Knicks’ offense picked up the place it left off. Knicks coach Mike Brown stated that his staff even received 14 of the 16 “50-50 balls” within the recreation.
“I simply really feel like we had been full steps gradual tonight, defensively,” Nurse stated. “It simply appeared like we had been chasing the whole lot. Didn’t guard the ball effectively sufficient. Didn’t contest shooters effectively sufficient. They had been clearly selecting us aside, simply transferring loads higher than we had been.”
The Sixers’ first adjustment for Wednesday’s Sport 2 (7 ET, ESPN)? Play higher.
“We had been form of caught in mud at each ends,” Nurse stated, “They put it on us.”
4. Time to take discover of how dominant the Knicks have been
The Knicks had been down 2-1 towards the Atlanta Hawks within the first spherical, however these two losses got here by one level every. They usually’ve since received 4 video games by a complete of 135.
They now have the second-ranked offense and the third-ranked protection within the playoffs. They’ve a star that may get buckets, a complementary beginning lineup, and among the finest benches within the league.
By way of seven playoff video games, the Knicks have outscored their opponents by a median of 20.6 factors per recreation – what could be the perfect level differential in playoff historical past. They’re nonetheless a great distance from their purpose, and their 5 wins have come towards the No. 6 and seven seeds from the weaker convention, however the Hawks received 19 of their final 24 video games within the common season, and the Sixers simply dispatched one in all two groups that ranked within the prime 5 on each ends of the ground.
Regardless of the opponents, dominance like this could elevate some eyebrows.
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John Schuhmann has lined the NBA for greater than 20 years. You’ll be able to e-mail him right here, discover his archive right here and follow him on Bluesky.