NEW YORK — The up-and-down nature of the New York Knicks’ season created the circumstances for them to look like the playoff juggernaut they’ve been for the past week or so.
Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals was essentially over before halftime as the Knicks took a 23-point lead over the Philadelphia 76ers on the back of Jalen Brunson’s 27 first-half points. He finished with 35 as New York emphatically added to a historic postseason roll with a 137-98 win Monday night at Madison Square Garden.
The Knicks became the first team in NBA history to win three straight postseason games by at least 25 points, continuing a wave that began midway through the first round against the Atlanta Hawks by shooting 63% and leading by as many as 40 points Monday night.
76ers coach Nick Nurse pulled his starters midway through the third quarter with his team trailing by more than 30. It was perhaps an admission of the mental and physical fatigue his team had gone through, pulling itself from a 3-1 deficit against the Boston Celtics in a Game 7 win that ended just 48 hours before Philadelphia’s series against New York began.
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Since trailing 2-1 against Atlanta, the Knicks have won four straight games by a combined 135 points. Over the past three games, the Knicks have a combined margin of victory of 119 points, the largest point-per-game differential in a three-game span in NBA playoffs history.
The Knicks have been waiting since dispatching the Hawks in Game 6 on Thursday, and instead of looking rusty, they looked ready and prepared for everything the 76ers threw at them.
“It’s a lot of fun when you have concepts on either end of the floor, and the guys are trying to embrace those concepts at the highest level,” Knicks coach Mike Brown said. “And when they do, it doesn’t really matter what you call or who initiates the action, because guys are trying to play the right way.”
Brown said he has seen situations in which teams coming off a grueling series were better equipped than the team that was resting, but short of early foul trouble for Karl-Anthony Towns and Mitchell Robinson — the primary defenders of 76ers center Joel Embiid — everything flowed according to plan.
The Knicks’ top four players — Brunson, Towns, OG Anunoby and Mikal Bridges — played well over double the minutes together this season than the 76ers’ four best players: Tyrese Maxey, Embiid, Paul George and VJ Edgecombe.
And despite the 76ers’ high ceiling, it was the Knicks who looked like the cohesive unit from start to finish.
“That’s why you play a season,” Brunson said. “That’s why you go through adversity. You find things to make you the best team as possible by the end of the year. And even at this point, you find ways to get better and improve.”
The wins have been incrementally more impressive as the games have gone on; the Knicks’ average margin of victory is 33.2 points since they fell behind 2-1 to the Hawks and faced a pressure-packed Game 4 in Atlanta.
“There’s never a time when you look back and say, we’re good now, we don’t have to continue to work and continue to get better,” Brunson said. “It’s not the case at all.”
Anunoby, who has been playing his best stretch of playoff basketball since becoming a Knick, scored 18 points on only eight shots. And Bridges, who was struggling coming into the playoffs, hit three 3-pointers on his way to 17 points as the Knicks shot 51% from distance.
The 76ers tried to force-feed Embiid early, but it probably threw them off rhythm, as he missed 11 of his 14 shots. Maxey, who averaged 27 points against the Celtics, didn’t record a field goal until the second quarter.
“I don’t think I shot once in the first quarter,” Maxey said. “I don’t think it was a real shot. The ball came out of my hand. So I’m just trying to read and figure it out. I’m not too worried about it.”
Through all the good vibes, though, Brunson was pragmatic when assessing the rest of the series. The 76ers lost Game 1 in Boston in similar fashion before bouncing back to win Game 2.
“I don’t think we’re going to see that team, from Game 1 to Game 2,” Brunson said. “They’ll be ready to go.”
ESPN Research and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
