PHILADELPHIA — The New York Knicks are back in the Eastern Conference finals, and they did it by turning Sunday night into a road game in name only. Behind 18 3-pointers in the first half and a 24-point halftime lead, the Knicks beat the Philadelphia 76ers 144-114 at Xfinity Mobile Arena to sweep the series and clinch their second straight berth in the East finals.
The game was essentially over by halftime, and so was the series. Knicks fans took over the building, making it feel more like Madison Square Garden than Philadelphia, and Jalen Brunson scored 22 points with six 3-pointers as New York reached the NBA's final four. Josh Hart said he no longer knew whether Philadelphia could still be called a sports town, and he said it never felt like a road game because so many Philly fans had been begging others not to sell their tickets.
The Knicks’ shooting barrage matched an NBA record for a half with 18 3-pointers in a regular season or playoff game, and their margin of control reflected a postseason run that has left little doubt about their form. New York has outscored opponents by 19.4 points per game this postseason, the largest scoring margin by any team entering the conference finals since the playoffs expanded to 16 teams in the 1983-84 season. The club also closed out Atlanta 10 days earlier, so this was not a one-night surge but the continuation of a dominant stretch.
That does not mean the mood in the locker room has turned celebratory. Hart called Sunday “just another step in the process,” and Brunson said he did not describe it that way, adding that the group has stayed focused on attention to detail and the edge it needs to keep going. Karl-Anthony Towns, who reached the conference finals with Minnesota in 2024, said the team is in its first year together and that beating Boston last year brought excitement, a reminder that this group has already lived through bigger stages before. Brunson reached the conference finals with Dallas in 2022 after a Game 7 road win over Phoenix, and Towns did the same in 2024 after a Game 7 road win over Denver.
For Philadelphia, Tyrese Maxey put the loss bluntly: it “absolutely sucks,” he said, adding that the only way to stop nights like this is to win the games that matter. He said it felt louder in the arena for Knicks supporters than it did at Madison Square Garden. That was the night’s most telling detail. The Knicks did not just win a series on Sunday; they erased the building, took the crowd with them and left the East’s next round looking like a formality.
