Dylan Backer
The New York Knicks carried over their dominance from the end of round one into the Eastern Conference Semifinals on Monday, dominating the Philadelphia 76ers in Game 1 137-98 to cruise to a 1-0 series lead.
Knicks crush 76ers in Game 1
New York ended the first round against the Atlanta Hawks with a 51-point record-setting victory, and now they begin the next round with another. They are now the first team in NBA history to win three consecutive playoff games by 25 or more points.
Those three wins were a 29-point win over Atlanta in Game 5, the aforementioned 51-point win in Game 6, and Monday’s 39-point blowout. They hold an average margin of victory 39 in those wins, and they have outscored their opponents by 135 since Game 4 against the Hawks.
New York was dialed in from the jump of Game 1 against Philadelphia. Jalen Brunson torched them for 27 points in the first half, en route to a 35-point performance, and the Knicks shut down the Sixers’ All-Star duo of Tyrese Maxey and Joel Embiid.
The Knicks have been as locked in as ever right now. In their last four games, they have held their opponents to under 100 points in each of them, and they have yet to allow their opponent to score 110 points or more in any game this postseason. It is the first time since 1999 that New York has won four consecutive playoff games.
The Knicks are rolling at the right time
Despite the recent dominance, the players know that they still have work to do.
“You’ve got to take this game with a grain of salt and just kind of move forward. I don’t think we’re going to see that team that we saw in Game 1 in Game 2,” Brunson said after the game, via SNY.
Philadelphia was coming off a Game 7 win over the Boston Celtics, and the Knicks quickly took away any confidence they could have had from that game. They’ll look to repeat their dominance once more in Game 2 on Wednesday.
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