The New York Knicks crushed the Philadelphia 76ers 137-98 in Game One of the Eastern Conference semifinals on May 6, 2026, a night capped by Jalen Brunson’s 35 points and a shockingly one-sided finish.
Brunson exploded early, finishing with 27 points in the first half and carrying the Knicks past Philadelphia before the Sixers could mount an answer. The final margin — 39 points — completed a stretch that made New York the first team to win three successive postseason games by at least a 25-point margin.
Brunson shrugged when asked about the blowout. “That’s why you play a season,” he said, later adding, “That’s why you go through adversity,” and that “There’s never a time when you look back and say, we’re good now, we don’t have to continue to work and continue to get better.” He credited attention to details: “I feel like our focus has been better. Our attention to detail has been better.”
The 76ers, trailing by a wide margin late in the third, pulled all of their starters midway through the third quarter. Philadelphia got 17 points from Paul George and 14 from Joel Embiid, but that production could not slow the Knicks’ onslaught. Game Two is scheduled for Madison Square Garden on May 7, 2026.
Context: the Knicks had entered the series riding an earlier blowout of the Atlanta Hawks in round one, and the Game One score built on that momentum. The three successive 25-plus point postseason wins mark an uncommon run of dominance at this stage of the playoffs, underscoring how sharply New York arrived into the semifinals.
Nick Nurse, confronting the loss, did not soften its scale. “It wasn’t any fun to sit there,” he said, and added bluntly, “Wasn’t any fun to be a part of, to be honest, and watch.” He told reporters the team must respond immediately: “We got to wash that one away and get back, and we’re going to have to find and provide much more energy and physicality and that kind of stuff.”
Nurse also pointed to details that will matter in Game Two, saying Philadelphia had done an “above average” job defending Brunson in subsequent discussions but that the execution elsewhere fell short. He dissected other elements of the performance, saying, “He certainly wasn't getting near the clearance as he was in Game 1,” and that “He was getting practice shots a lot in that game,” adding, “I think the challenges were much better.”
The tension in this series is immediate and obvious: New York’s offense looks tuned and explosive; Philadelphia’s staff must decide whether the third-quarter withdrawal of starters was a prudent preservation or a concession that will only sharpen questions about the 76ers’ energy and physicality. Nurse’s demand for a heavier, more physical response sets the task for Game Two at Madison Square Garden on May 7.
What happens next will determine whether Game One was an aberration or the opening act of a rout. The Knicks, powered by Brunson’s half-first-half takeover and the rare streak of lopsided postseason wins, enter Game Two with momentum and confidence. As Brunson put it, “I don’t think we’re going to see that team, from Game 1 to Game 2.” Whether that prediction proves prescient will shape how this series is remembered.
