ESPN's Vince Goodwill: This Is A Generational Playoff Run From the New York Knicks

The New York Knicks have been the buzzsaw of the playoffs. ESPN's Vincent Goodwill came on the show from the heart of MSG South.

That is Goodwill's nickname for the Wells Fargo Center after this weekend's series.

"You mean Knicks South? MSG South?" Goodwill said. "It was weird. This is my first year covering the Eastern Conference in full."

The arena experience was what surprised him.

"When you're in there and Joel Embiid is at the line and he's getting booed, and Tyrese Maxey is at the line and he's getting booed, and every time a Knick does something right, the crowd just erupts," Goodwill said. "Or what's worse, Rich, 76er fans leaving the building at some point in the third quarter."

The white-towel moment was the symbol.

"It was great that they had white towels, cuz that's exactly what it looked like with the 76ers," Goodwill said. "It looked like they waved the white towel for two consecutive games."

The Knicks have been playing high-level basketball, in Goodwill's framing, but Philadelphia helped.

"The Philadelphia 76ers played the part of the Washington Generals for the better part of four games in this series," Goodwill said.

The stat Goodwill brought was historic.

"To your point about what the Knicks have done in their eight playoff wins, they have averaged a point differential of 24.5 points per game," Goodwill said. "None of these games have been competitive. They've lost two games by a total of two points, and they've won these games by a total of 196. This is a generational run that the New York Knicks are playing right now."

The basketball comparison he made was the early Steve Kerr Warriors.

"Karl-Anthony Towns in the Draymond Green sort of Arvydas Sabonis position of point forward, it's almost Golden State-esque," Goodwill said. "Mike Brown spent a lot of years with Steve Kerr and Golden State. He picked up on some things offensively with the cutting and the three-point shooting, and it looks like it's bearing."

The journey to get there required real changes.

"It took a lot of things for the Knicks to get here," Goodwill said. "Had to change their offense at mid-season. They had to change it again after game three of the Atlanta series."

The historical analogy ran the same way.

"Similar to the way that Golden State had to change how they were playing in the lineups that they were using in their first championship season, with David Lee and bringing in Draymond Green, and then again in the finals going to that small death lineup against LeBron James, and it yielded championships after that," Goodwill said.

His call was careful but real.

"I'm not saying the Knicks are going to win the championship, but I'm saying they have unlocked something that nobody could have expected," Goodwill said.

The three-point record Goodwill closed on was the kicker. The Knicks tied the playoff record for threes in a game, at 25. They could have shattered it.

"They could have obliterated the three-point record of threes in a game had that game been competitive," Goodwill said. "Instead, they had to settle for a tie at 25."