Knicks take 3-0 East semifinal lead with Game 3 road win over 76ers

The Knicks didn’t just win Game 3. They took the air out of the series. New York beat Philadelphia 108-94 on Friday night, grabbed a 3-0 lead in the Eastern Conference semifinals, and put the 76ers in the place no team ever wants to be — one loss from done. The score matters, but the feel of it matters more. Every time Philadelphia made a run, the Knicks had the steadier answer. That’s usually what a team in control looks like. ### Why does 3-0 feel so final? Because in NBA playoff history, 3-0 is basically a locked door. Teams down 0-3 have never come back to win a best-of-seven series, so New York isn’t just ahead — it’s standing on the edge of a sweep. That changes the mood around Game 4 completely. Philadelphia isn’t trying to “take back home court” anymore. It’s just trying to extend the season. (espn.com) ### Who actually swung Game 3? Jalen Brunson was the center of it again. He finished with 33 points and 9 assists, and he got the buckets that settled things late. Mikal Bridges gave New York 23 more, which mattered because this wasn’t one of those games where the Knicks could coast on one hot quarter. They had to keep solving the same problem over and over as the Sixers threatened to make it interesting. (nba.com) ### Did Philly have a real chance? Yes — a few times. The 76ers actually led 31-27 after the first quarter, and Joel Embiid was back in the lineup, which gave the game a different level of urgency. But New York won the second quarter 33-21, flipped control before halftime, and never really gave it back. That’s the part that hurts for Philadelphia. The setup improved. The result didn’t. (espn.com) ### What did the Knicks do better? They were calmer in the parts of the game where playoff games usually wobble. NBA’s recap called out New York for turning back repeated rallies, and that tracks with how this looked. The Knicks weren’t perfect, but they were sturdier. When the Sixers made a push, New York didn’t rush shots or lose shape. It just reset through Brunson, got enough from Bridges and the supporting cast, and kept the lead from becoming a crisis. (espn.com) ### How bad is this for the 76ers? Pretty bad — and not just because of the scoreboard. Philadelphia is now staring at a second-round exit unless it can do something no NBA team has done before. Embiid’s return was supposed to give the series a jolt. Instead, it mostly underscored how little margin the Sixers have left. One more loss, and the conversation shifts from tactics to offseason fallout. (nba.com) ### Does this change the East picture? Absolutely. New York came into this round as the No. 2 seed, but a 3-0 lead over Philadelphia makes the Knicks look less like a nice story and more like a real conference-finals-level team. They already blasted the Sixers in Game 1, survived a tighter Game 2, and now won on the road in Game 3. That’s three different kinds of wins, which is usually a sign a team has more than one way to control a series. (nba.com) ### So what’s the bottom line? The Knicks are one win away from ending this series, and Game 3 made clear why. Brunson gave them the late-game brain, Bridges gave them scoring support, and the whole group looked more composed than Philadelphia when the pressure rose. At 3-0, this is no longer a balanced fight. It’s New York holding the hammer. (espn.com)