ESPN’s Vincent Goodwill on the Knicks’ Merciless Sweep of the 76ers

The Knicks just played four games in Philadelphia that felt less like a playoff series and more like an open house. ESPN's Vincent Goodwill came on the show from the building he now calls MSG South.

"You mean Knicks South? MSG South?" Goodwill said. "I think that's what I think it's southwest of."

Rich teased him on the geotagging.

The takeaway from being inside the arena was the room itself.

"This is my first year covering the Eastern Conference in full," Goodwill said. "The past few years when I was at Yahoo Sports, I did a lot of Western Conference stuff with Stephen Curry being over there and LeBron James. I was always sent to the number one story."

The visuals exceeded the broadcast.

"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.

The visiting fans had earned the building.

"What's worse, Rich, 76er fans leaving the building at some point in the third quarter," Goodwill said. "Knick fans waving them out as if they're saying, thank you for leaving this place that you've squatted for a while."

The white-towel symbol landed.

"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 earned the run.

"They played excellent basketball," Goodwill said. "When you hit 10 of 11 threes in the first quarter, 11 of 13 or whatever it was, you're playing a high level of basketball."

But Philadelphia helped the result.

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

Rich asked about OG Anunoby's hamstring status heading into the next series.

"Rich, do you believe that the New York Knicks would be very forthcoming about what they would say about OG Anunoby's health?" Goodwill said. "If that hamstring was falling off the bone, we wouldn't know about it."

The injury history is what gives Goodwill optimism.

"The nine-day potential nine additional days of rest, the Eastern Conference Finals may not start until May 19th," Goodwill said. "That will give OG Anunoby almost two weeks to come back from this. Two years ago during the same semi-finals of the Eastern Conference, he had a similar injury on his left hamstring. He missed games two through six of that series against the Pacers. Tried to come back in game seven. It did not work."

The bigger pivot Rich and Goodwill kept coming back to was the Karl-Anthony Towns role change.

"Putting Cat in the role of point center has kind of cracked a code here offensively for the Knicks," Goodwill said.

The Golden State comp ran the same.

"Karl-Anthony Towns in the Draymond Green sort of Arvydas Sabonis position of point forward, it's almost Golden State-esque," Goodwill said. "Like 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."

Goodwill's pitch on the run itself was big-picture.

"This is a generational run that the New York Knicks are playing right now," Goodwill said. "They have averaged a point differential of 24.5 points per game. 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."