The New York Knicks swept the Philadelphia 76ers in four games, closing out the second round at Xfinity Mobile Arena and securing their first four-game sweep since 1999. The finish came on Mother’s Day, with Philadelphia staring at an 0-3 deficit and the Phillies playing across the parking lot at the same time.
Joel Embiid was booed when he appeared on the giant video screen before the game, a familiar sound in a postseason setting that had already turned hostile. In 2024, Knicks fans took over in Philadelphia during the teams’ playoff meeting, and this year Embiid had pleaded with 76ers fans not to sell their tickets ahead of the series.
Josh Hart, who plays for the Knicks and went to Villanova University, said he had once thought Philadelphia was a sports town. He added that he no longer knew if that was true. The arena told the story before the game even settled in. The volume from New York fans made it feel, at times, like Madison Square Garden had been moved 90 miles down the road.
Tyrese Maxey did not sugarcoat what that sounded like from the floor. “It absolutely sucks,” he said of seeing the crowd tilt toward the visitors. “That’s all I can really say about it. It’s hard. It’s definitely difficult.”
Maxey said the only answer was on the court. “There’s only one way to put a stop to it, and we have to go out there and win these games,” he said. He also said Philadelphia had sounded louder for Knicks fans than New York’s own home floor had during the season, adding that the experience had felt different from what he heard at Madison Square Garden.
The backdrop helps explain why. Philadelphia is a little over a 90-minute drive from New York, and tickets to see the Knicks there are cheaper than tickets at Madison Square Garden. That combination has repeatedly turned playoff games into a road game that does not always sound like one.
For the Knicks, the sweep ended the series with a result that had eluded them for 25 years. For the 76ers, it left one more reminder that the noise in their own building has become part of the story when New York comes to town.
