Knicks complete 4-0 sweep of 76ers with 144-114 Game 4 rout

The Knicks didn’t just eliminate the 76ers. They detonated the series. New York won Game 4 in Philadelphia, 144-114, and finished off a 4-0 sweep with the kind of shooting night that makes a game feel over before halftime. That matters because closeout games are usually tense, ugly, and weird. (nba.com) This one was basically a public demonstration that the Knicks are deeper, cleaner, and much more dangerous than they looked earlier in the postseason. ### Why did this feel over so fast? Because New York turned the first quarter into target practice. (nba.com) The Knicks hit 11 threes in the opening period and led 43-24 after one, then pushed the margin to 81-57 by halftime. Philadelphia scored first, but after that the game tilted almost immediately and never really came back. ### What was the actual shooting avalanche? The Knicks finished 25-for-44 from 3 — 56.8% — while the 76ers went 8-for-35. That 25-8 gap from deep is the whole story in one line. Philadelphia was fine enough inside the arc, and Joel Embiid even shot 8-for-8 overall, but you can’t survive when the other team is making nearly 57% of 44 threes. (nba.com) ### Who led it? Miles McBride did, which is part of why this result lands so hard. He scored 25 points in under 30 minutes and went 7-for-9 from 3. Jalen Brunson added 22 and six assists. (nba.com) Karl-Anthony Towns had 17 points and 10 assists in under 20 minutes. Josh Hart chipped in 17 and nine rebounds. That’s not one star bailing them out — that’s a whole offense humming. ### Why is McBride the telling detail? Because blowouts like this usually come from the headliner having a supernova night. Instead, the Knicks got a bench-spark line from a rotation guard and still had six players in double figures. (nba.com) McBride starting and bombing away tells you New York’s offense isn’t living on one difficult Brunson shot after another right now. It’s generating clean looks for everyone. ### What went wrong for Philadelphia? The Sixers never found a way to change the math. Embiid was efficient, Tyrese Maxey had 17, but the perimeter defense kept springing leaks and the offense couldn’t answer from outside. (nba.com) Paul George scored just 7 points, Maxey shot 1-for-7 from 3, and the team as a whole got buried by the three-point differential before any late-game adjustments could matter. ### Was this just one hot night? Not really — that’s the scary part for the rest of the East. New York already had another huge shooting game earlier in the series, and NBA.com noted the Knicks became just the third team to shoot better than 50% on at least 35 threes twice in the same playoff series. (nba.com) So yes, this was extreme. But it wasn’t random noise from nowhere. ### What does this change now? It puts the Knicks in the Eastern Conference finals for the second straight year and gives them extra rest while Detroit and Cleveland keep playing. (nba.com) New York is already the first East team through, and after a sweep like this, the shape of the bracket changes a bit — the Knicks don’t just look alive, they look like a team that can flatten a good opponent if the spacing holds. ### Bottom line? The headline is the sweep, but the real signal is the style of it. New York won a closeout game on the road by 30, tied the playoff record with 25 made threes, and got there with balance instead of desperation. (nba.com) That’s what serious contenders look like. (nba.com 1) (nba.com 2)