Knicks Finished Off Sixers in Historic and Emasculating Fashion

The Philadelphia faithful checked out and so did their 76ers on Sunday. For the second straight game, the Knicks ran the Sixers out of their own gym and New Yorkers invaded Xfinity Mobile Arena. It was quite possibly the biggest takeover of a road arena in NBA history.

"It's a really cool feeling," Jalen Brunson said after the 144-114 beatdown of the Sixers. "It's something that I will always think is one of the coolest things in the world, when you hear Knicks fans in opposing arenas"

Two years ago, New York closed their opening round playoff series in the final seconds of Game 6 in this very building. On Mother's Day, the Knicks swept their semifinals matchup with Philly, and the game was over after the first quarter.

The Knicks went for the kill early in Game 4

En route to the team's first best-of-7 sweep since 1999 and just third in franchise history, the Knicks tied a NBA postseason record with 11 three-pointers in the opening frame. It was 43-24 in New York’s favor after the first twelve minutes. The rest of the game was a big record-breaking party.

The 144 points scored was the most the Knicks have scored in the postseason in franchise history. The 25 threes made tied an NBA postseason record. The game also capped off a seven-game winning streak, the longest playoff win streak in the 80 years that the Knicks have existed, as this version of this team looks like a runaway freight train no one can stop.

After going down 1-2 to the Hawks, the Knicks haven’t lost a game and have won by an average of 26.4 points. They’ve outscored their opponents, 877–692 (+185) during this stretch, which is the largest scoring differential across seven consecutive playoff games in NBA history. The previous high was +147 by the 2009 Denver Nuggets.

Coach Mike Brown’s team is 8-2 in these playoffs with the losses coming by a combined two points. In those 10 games, the Knicks +194 point differential is the largest ever across the first ten games of the postseason, surpassing the +170 margin of the 2017 Warriors.

Furthermore, the Knicks became the fourth team in NBA history with multiple 30-point series-clinching wins in a single postseason, joining the 1987 Lakers, 2008 Celtics and last year’s Thunder. All three of those teams went on to win the NBA title.

What makes the past two games even more impressive is that the team has been without OG Anunoby, who had arguably been the team’s best player during this run. But that didn't stop the Knicks from taking care of business. They pummeled Philadelphia by an aggregate score of 497-408, good for the second-largest playoff series point differential in team history. The largest, of course, was the +105 difference against Atlanta last round.

It's going to be hard for anyone to beat this version of the Knicks four times

Some may now say that the Knicks have had an easy path on their way to a second straight trip to the Eastern Conference Finals. But a just a few weeks ago, the Hawks were labeled the toughest team in the bottom half of the bracket. Meanwhile, following the Sixers dispatching Boston in seven games, they were called by many the most talented team left in the East.

Many were dancing on the Knicks' grave after they lost Game 3 against Atlanta. Now that they've decimated them and Philadelphia, talking heads want to all of a sudden say how it's been a cake walk.

These Knicks deserve their flowers. This stretch of dominance boils down to the team firing on all cylinders and playing a special brand of championship caliber basketball. It's been a historic two weeks, but there's plenty of history still to be made.

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