Knicks sweep 76ers, set up Eastern Conference finals return after barrage

The Knicks are back in the Eastern Conference finals with the kind of force that changes how the rest of the league views them. New York finished off the Philadelphia 76ers 144-114 at Xfinity Mobile Arena in Philadelphia on Sunday, completing a 4-0 second-round sweep built on a record-setting perimeter attack and a steadier structure than the franchise has shown in years.

The decisive fourth game was a rout almost from the start. Deuce McBride scored 25 points and hit seven three-pointers as the Knicks set an NBA postseason record with 11 made threes in the first quarter. New York tied the league’s playoff record with 25 made threes overall, took an 81-57 lead into halftime, and piled up 54 points from beyond the arc in the first half alone. Jalen Brunson added 22 points, while Josh Hart and Karl-Anthony Towns each finished with 17.

The sweep carried more meaning than one lopsided closeout. It was New York’s first best-of-seven series sweep since the 1999 East semifinals against Atlanta, and it sent the Knicks to the conference finals for a second straight season. They have not reached back-to-back conference finals since 1999-2000, a measure of how rare this level of continuity has been for a franchise long defined by turnover and uneven playoff follow-through.

This run also reflects a shift in the organization’s identity. Tom Thibodeau was fired after last season and replaced by Mike Brown, and Brown has now guided the Knicks to seven straight playoff wins, including the last three games against Atlanta. The roster has been built around multiple ball-handlers and enough shooting to punish defensive gaps, and the series against Philadelphia showed how that construction travels: Game 1 ended 137-98, Game 2 was a 108-102 grind with 25 lead changes and 14 ties, and Game 3 became another control game, a 108-94 win in which Philadelphia scored only 18 points in the fourth quarter.

Philadelphia’s season ended with another missed chance to get past the second round, despite a first-round comeback from a 3-1 deficit against Boston. Joel Embiid finished Game 4 with 24 points in an injury-riddled season, and Tyrese Maxey had 17, but the Sixers never found an answer for New York’s pace, spacing and late-game composure. The Knicks now wait for the winner of the Cleveland-Detroit series, with Detroit leading 2-1, and the message from this sweep is clear: New York is no longer merely relevant. It is operating like a contender built to survive May and keep going.