4 takeaways: Knicks find their best form when it matters most, sweep 76ers in East Semifinals

The Knicks are headed to the Eastern Conference Finals for a second consecutive season after a 144-114 victory over the 76ers, completing a 4-0 series sweep.

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PHILADELPHIA —

The New York Knicks sure know how to close out a playoff series.

Ten days after finishing the first round with a 51-point win in Atlanta, the Knicks completed a sweep of the Philadelphia 76ers in the

Eastern Conference semifinals

with what was, through three quarters, the most efficient offensive performance (regular season, SoFi Play-In Tournament or NBA Playoffs) of the last 30 years.

Twelve minutes of garbage time erased that distinction, but the Knicks still won by 30 points. Their

144-114 victory

on Sunday was their seventh double-digit victory of these playoffs.

The Sixers had the first basket in Game 4, but the Knicks then went on a 20-4 run. They were up 20 before the end of the first quarter and they led by as many as 44. Miles McBride led six Knicks in double-figures with 25 points, shooting 7-for-9 from 3-point range.

Here are some notes, quotes, numbers and film as the Knicks advance to the Eastern Conference Finals for a second straight year:

1. A 3-point barrage

At halftime on Sunday, the Sixers had outscored the Knicks by 12 points in the paint, by two points from mid-range and by four points at the free throw line.

And they trailed by 24.

The Knicks took 29 (55%) of their 53 first-half shots from 3-point range, and they made 18 (62%) of the 29 attempts. They slowed down and cooled off (just a bit) in the second half, but still finished 25-for-44 (57%) from deep.

The 25 makes were tied for the most for any team in a playoff game and set a Knicks franchise record for the regular season or postseason.

The Knicks hit 25 3-pointers in Game 4, setting a franchise playoff mark and equaling the most in any NBA playoff game.

The Sixers were just 8-for-35 (23%) from 3-point range on Sunday, and that differential from beyond the arc (25-8) was tied for the third biggest in NBA playoff history.

Having shot 19-for-37 (51%) from beyond the arc in Game 1, the Knicks are also just the third team (the first in five years) to shoot better than 50% on at least 35 3-point attempts twice in the same playoff series.

The third quarter was nearly as efficient as the first half, and through 36 minutes, the Knicks had scored 122 points on 71 possessions, a rate of 172 per 100.

The most efficient game (regular season, Play-In or playoffs) for any team in the 30 seasons for which we have play-by-play data is 162 per 100 (152 on 94).

The Knicks were beating that mark by a wide margin … until their third-string guys scored just 22 points on 27 possessions in the fourth quarter.

Garbage time excepted, the Knicks offense has been on fire. And they got some good shots on Sunday because

they’re hard to guard

, or because they were dominant on the glass and offensive boards can often lead to

open 3s

.

But the Sixers also had

some breakdowns

, and you probably shouldn’t leave Jalen Brunson in the strong-side corner when your teammate doesn’t need help on a drive:

Last season, the Knicks ranked

28th

in 3-point rate (38.2% of their shots).

This season, they ranked

12th

(42.8%), having seen the league’s fourth biggest jump. Josh Hart (4-for-6 in Game 4) went from shooting

33.3% to 41.3%

, making it much tougher to ignore him beyond the arc.

We don’t think of this as a team that will beat you from deep, but the Knicks’ 14.5 3-pointers per 100 possessions in the regular season ranked

sixth

, highest among the eight teams that advanced out of the first round of the playoffs.

2. McBride fills in, fills it up

OG Anunoby missed his second straight game with a hamstring strain suffered late in Game 2. Knicks head coach Mike Brown stuck with Miles “Deuce” McBride as the replacement starter, even though the new starting lineup was outscored

by 11 points

in a little more than 12 minutes on Friday.

That turned out to be the right move. Less than four minutes into Game 4, the Knicks were up 8-4. And then McBride proceeded to drain 3-pointers on four straight possessions, turning that four-point lead into a 14-point cushion.

The first came

in transition. The second came when Tyrese Maxey had to pinch off the strong-side corner to help on a Brunson cut:

After a steal, Paul George closed out to McBride on the break, but McBride simply stepped to the side and

drained another

. After another stop, McBride could have pulled up from 3 in transition, but maybe he figured the Knicks could get a better shot.

He was right, because after he passed the ball back to Brunson, both VJ Edgecombe and Joel Embiid left him alone in the corner:

McBride wasn’t done. After shooting just 2-for-9 from 3-point range over the previous two games, he was 7-for-9 on Sunday, with

his 25 points

representing a career playoff high.

3. The Knicks are making history

Over their 10 playoff games, the Knicks have outscored their opponents by 19.4 points per game, the best per-game differential for any team through two rounds of the playoffs in the 43 years of the 16-team format.

Largest per-game point differential through 2 rounds, since 1984

Team

Year

W

L

PPG

Opp PPG

Diff.

New York

2026

8

2

120.4

101.0

+19.4

Oklahoma City

7

0

122.1

103.9

+18.3

Orlando

2010

83.8

+17.3

L.A. Lakers

1987

1

127.5

110.6

+16.9

Cleveland

2009

94.9

78.1

+16.8

Through May 10, 2026

Through Sunday, the Knicks have

the second-ranked offense

and

the third-ranked defense

in these playoffs.

In this series, the Knicks scored an amazing 129.1 points per 100 possessions, 14.7 more than the Sixers allowed in the regular season. That’s the biggest such differential in the 12 series of these playoffs, through Sunday.

At the most important time of the year, the Knicks are playing their best basketball.

“They’ve tried to take it to another level with their focus on the details and their energy and effort level,” Brown said of his team. “And that’s a lot of the reason why we’re playing pretty good basketball.

“When you talk about the elite and the great

in any business, I don’t care what business you’re in, there’s one word that stands out, that’s the word consistency. The elite do it every play, even if it gets boring or monotonous. And that’s what we have to figure out to see if we can do if we can do it every play, and we have a chance to be elite.”

Having swept a best-of-seven series for the first time since 1999, the Knicks now have to worry about a long layoff. They will have either six or eight days off before the Eastern Conference finals begin on Sunday, May 17 or Tuesday, May 19.

They await the

winner of the series

between the Detroit Pistons (against whom they went

0-3

this season) and the Cleveland Cavaliers (

2-1

).

The long wait is obviously good for the prospect of getting Anunoby back for their next game, but it could hurt their rhythm.

“You like the rhythm that you’re in,” Brown said, “but if we expect to be who we think we’re capable of being, we’ll find a way to stay consistent with what we’re doing.”

4. Sixers come up short again

Over the last nine seasons (since 2017-18), 18 different teams have made the conference finals in either the Eastern or Western Conference. The Pistons (last appearance: 2008) and San Antonio Spurs (2017) can make it 20 if they win their respective series in the next week. That would be two-thirds of the league.

The Sixers are not one of those 18 teams, even though they have the league’s fifth-best regular season record over that nine-year stretch.

Best regular season records, 2017-18 through 2025-26

PCT

Conf. finals

Champ

Boston

477

241

.664

5

Denver

455

264

.633

Milwaukee

444

275

.618

416

302

.579

1*

Philadelphia

303

LA Clippers

415

.578

Golden State

398

314

.559

3

392

325

.547

2*

Miami

390

329

.542

Toronto

387

331

.539

* Still playing in 2026

Embiid has had three head coaches and a plethora of co-stars in that time. There was the core of Ben Simmons, JJ Redick and Dario Šarić in 2018, then Jimmy Butler and Tobias Harris when the Sixers lost on the final shot of Game 7 a year later.

Butler left, but Harris stayed. Maxey came along, James Harden ran the show, and shooters like Seth Curry and Danny Green were brought in to complement the stars.

Now, it’s Maxey, George and rookie Edgecombe. Same result.

This was the Sixers’ sixth trip to the conference semis over those nine years and the sixth one that ended in defeat. Whether it be health, luck, underachievement or just running into a superior opponent, they’ve come up short every time.

Embiid is now 32 years old

, and he’s played just 96 regular-season games over the last three years. By beating the second-seeded Boston Celtics in the first round, the Sixers showed that their current core can play at a high level when it’s healthy.

But with Embiid a big part of that core, consistent regular season success and favorable seeding come playoff time will be hard to come by.

There’s a secondary timeline, because Maxey and Edgecombe are just 25 and 20 years old, respectively. They have star power and, especially if Edgecombe can develop as a playmaker, they will be difficult to match up with going forward.

Of course, Embiid and George both have at least two more years on their contracts, so the Sixers have little choice but to run it back. George has shown that he remains an excellent two-way player, and Embiid was encouraged that he and his team “figured out the knee” issues that he was dealing with a year ago.

It’s not

totally

inconceivable that this team can finally break through in 2027.

“”I’m excited about next season,” Embiid said Sunday. “VJ’s gonna get better and he was amazing for his first season. Tyrese is gonna get better, and he’s gotten better every year. PG’s still got it … I’m excited about really getting back to myself.”

* * *

John Schuhmann has covered the NBA for more than 20 years. You can e-mail him

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