Knicks pick up where they left off, roll past 76ers with another blowout Game 1

Towns took a hard fall and smacked his head and back on the floor, but got up and kept moving. Nick Nurse went to Hack-a-Mitch with 2:56 left in the first after Robinson missed four straight free throws, and Brown answered by pulling him for Ariel Hukporti. That could’ve been one of those small turns that gives a road team life. Instead, it became another detail swallowed by what Brunson was doing to Philadelphia’s coverages.

And once the second quarter started, the 76ers looked like a team running on heavy legs. They missed good looks. They couldn’t clean up the Brunson problem. They couldn’t get Embiid out of actions cleanly enough. And every time the game offered them a small opening, the Knicks hit them again. Brunson had 27 by halftime, including a 3-pointer at the buzzer that pushed the lead to 74-51 and gave him the second-most first-half points in Knicks playoff history. By then, the game was gone.

The short turnaround from Saturday to Monday had always looked like a rough setup for Philadelphia, and it showed. This series will now move every other day, so the 76ers will have to find their legs, On Monday, they didn’t them. The Knicks did, and they kept pressing.

Anunoby made sure there would be no path back. The 76ers were comfortable turning him into a shooter, leaving Embiid on him while still dropping in pick-and-roll coverage. Anunoby kept making them pay. When he drilled another 3 in the third, the Knicks were up 27. When Towns buried his third 3 of the night with 7:07 left in the quarter, the lead hit 30. The Knicks reached 100 with 2:05 still left in the third. From there, the rest of the night was just bench minutes and clock. Both head coaches emptied the bench to start the fourth.

Philadelphia did make one late adjustment, going after Brunson defensively with VJ Edgecombe. It worked some. It also arrived so late it barely registered. For a few early possessions, this looked like it might become an Embiid game, or a foul-trouble game, or one of those long playoff nights where the Knicks would have to keep solving one problem after another.

Instead, it became another Brunson game. And for the Knicks, so far that’s been enough.