The New York Knicks did not simply win Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals at Madison Square Garden on Monday night. They humiliated the Philadelphia 76ers by 39 points, the second-worst playoff loss in Philadelphia's storied history, and they did it with their starters on the bench by the early third quarter.
Jalen Brunson set the tone before the Sixers had run their second possession. The All-Star guard scored 14 in the first quarter, 27 by halftime, and finished with 35 points on 12-of-18 shooting in just 30 minutes. His former coach Mark Jackson, working the Sixers postgame broadcast, called it for what it was. "There was one guy that set the tone and put the dagger in your heart by halftime. His name is Jalen Brunson. I thought he was a flatout killer."
The Sixers, who arrived in New York on Sunday night after their emotional Sunday afternoon win in Boston, looked exactly like a team running on fumes. Tyrese Maxey, normally Philadelphia's energizer, did not get his first field goal until the second quarter and finished three of nine with four turnovers. Joel Embiid managed 14 points on three of 11 and absorbed an unintentional Mikal Bridges screen to the stomach that left the still-recovering big man clutching at the abdomen where he had emergency appendix surgery less than a month ago.
"It was over by halftime," coach Jim Lynam said on the postgame show. "And all I can say was that one of the fears I think that we all had was that the emotion from the Celtic series was so overpowering that it's hard to come back to earth."
Nick Nurse refused to lean on the 48-hour turnaround. "You can't make excuses, that's for sure," he said, before describing what actually went wrong. "They had like five or six mid pick-and-rolls in a row that they scored on in pretty much every way they could. Came off, hit a three, didn't get through the screen, hit a lob, hit a couple floaters down the lane. They scored six straight times off that and that kind of extended it a little bit."
The Knicks shot 63 percent from the field and torched Philadelphia's defense in the paint and from deep simultaneously. Carl Anthony Towns scored 17 in 20 minutes on three-of-five from three. The Garden, which had the ghost of a closeout effort against Atlanta still hanging in the air, watched its team waltz to a 47-point first-half lead.
Maxey, asked how he plans to respond, was unbothered. "They won one game and we lost one game. We're going to make some adjustments and we'll be ready for game two. Game one doesn't carry over to game two and we'll be ready to play."
Paul George echoed the message. "Same as last series. They don't get any extra points for going up big tonight. We'll be ready for game two."
The analytics, however, are damning. Brunson averaged 35 points against Philadelphia in their 2024 series. He matched that exactly in Game 1 of this one. The Sixers, having survived an 0-1 start against Boston by ramping up their defensive pressure, now face a more complete opponent on the road and must figure out how to make a likely Hall of Famer work for his points.
"This Knicks team, granted only one playoff game, but this looks like a more complete team than the Celtic team," Lynam said. The Knicks finished both of their final two Atlanta games on cruise control. They have now stretched that to three straight giant wins.
Game 2 is Wednesday at MSG. Embiid is expected to play through whatever damage that Bridges screen left behind. Whether the Sixers can find another lifeline is the only thing left to settle.
