Knicks lead 1-0 after Brunson's 35
- New York opened the East semifinals by crushing Philadelphia 137-98 on Monday, with Jalen Brunson scoring 35 as the Knicks grabbed a 1-0 lead. (espn.com) - Brunson had 27 by halftime, OG Anunoby went 7-for-8 for 18, and the Knicks carried a 23-point lead into the break. (cbsnews.com) - The rout extended New York’s postseason surge into Round 2 and immediately put pressure on a Sixers team that never recovered. (arkansasonline.com)
The Knicks didn’t just win Game 1 — they steamrolled Philadelphia. New York beat the 76ers 137-98 on Monday, May 4, at Madison Square Garden and took a 1-(espn.com)the engine again, dropping 35 points, and the bigger point was how easy the whole thing looked for long stretches. (e([cbsnews.com) by halftime, and the game was basically gone not long after the third quarter started. Philadelphia’s stars were pulled with 6:03(arkansasonline.com)y early. (nba.com) ### What did Brunson actually do? He lit the game on fire in the first half. Brunson scored 27 of his 35 before the break and finished 12-for-18 from the field. That matters because Philadelphia never got him out of rhythm, and once he was cooking, the rest of New York’s offense opened up behind him. (espn.com) ### Was this only a Brunson game? No — and that’s the scary part for Philly. OG Anunoby scored 18 points on 7-for-8 shooting, while the Knicks got more support from across the lineup. The game turned into one of those nights where New York’s top options were efficient and the role players didn’t have to force anything. (cbsnews.com) ### Why did the score get so ugly? Because New York grabbed control early and never loosened it. The Knicks used a 15-4 run late in the first quarter to create separation, then kept stacking clean (espn.com)ips and pushed the game completely out of reach. (nba.com) ### What went wrong for Philadelphia? The Sixers hung around for about seven minutes. After that, they had no real answer for Brunson, and they couldn’t generate enough offense to make the Kn(cbsnews.com), the problem isn’t one bad stretch — it’s that the whole structure of the night collapsed. (sports.yahoo.com) ### Is there a bigger pattern here? Yes. This wasn’t just a one-off hot shooting night dropped into an otherwise shaky p(nba.com)nference semifinals with real momentum after getting through the first round. Basketball-Reference’s playoff page shows them now leading the series 1-0 after eliminating Atlanta in six. (basketball-reference.com) ### So what matters going into Game 2? Philadelphia has to make Brunson work much harder and keep the game in a half-co(sports.yahoo.com)night if Anunoby and the rest of the lineup keep finishing efficiently, but this opener showed how dangerous they are when Brunson sets the tone early. (cbsnews.com) ### Bottom line? Game 1 wasn’t subtle. The Knicks looked faster, sharper, and far more comfortable from the opening stret(basketball-reference.com)el of this matchup immediately, this could get away from them in a hurry. (espn.com)
