The New York Knicks' playoff dominance continued when they caught the Philadelphia 76ers less than 48 hours after their grueling Game 7 victory over the Boston Celtics. The group was well-rested after being the only Eastern Conference team to win their first-round series in fewer than seven games. They took advantage of the situation to a historic extent.
It was a complete abandonment of the issue that had plagued the Knicks throughout the regular season, and even to start their series against the Atlanta Hawks. The sense of entitlement that Mikal Bridges alluded to after a January win over the Toronto Raptors seems to be gone. The group broke their habit of needing to be backed into a corner to play their best.
In Game 1 against the 76ers, the Knicks got out to a big lead and kept it. They came out playing aggressively to begin the second half. And even though Philly tried closing the gap, Nick Nurse ended up waving the proverbial white flag before the third quarter had ended.
Knicks reach new heights in 39-point rout of 76ers in Game 1
If the Knicks keep playing like they've got something to prove, regardless of how many points are between them and their opponent, they might be able to keep shredding whichever opponent the schedule puts in front of them.
New York led the 76ers by as many as 40 points, but certainly by more than 30 for a good chunk of the second half. That made them the first team in the NBA's play-by-play era to lead by 30 points or more in three consecutive playoff games, according to the AP's Josh Dubow.
After the 39-point Game 1 victory, New York has the second-best point differential in the first seven games of a playoff run in NBA history. They're behind only the 2009 Denver Nuggets, who lost in the Western Conference Finals to the championship-winning Los Angeles Lakers.
The Knicks hope to do better than those Nuggets, with their own governor having made it clear that internal expectations include a trip to the 2026 NBA Finals. The group is facing immense amounts of pressure, but is delivering the way fans thought they could as a result.
If they can keep it up, their new-look offense under Mike Brown might just be what fuels their first title run in over 50 years. And that saying about pressure making diamonds might just end up applying to New York's very own championship rings.