Is the Knicks-76ers East Semifinal Series Over Already after Game 1’s Blowout?

The Knicks are doing things nobody has ever done in an NBA postseason.

Tuesday's 137-98 win over the Sixers in Madison Square Garden made New York the first team in playoff history to win three straight games by 25 or more points. The cumulative margin over those three is plus-119, the largest three-game playoff margin in league history. Stretch it to four and it grows to plus-135.

The pivotal context is what this offense looks like compared to what it used to. The Knicks moved on from Tom Thibodeau partly because his teams gassed out in the playoffs, his rotation was thin, and the offense flatlined when transition did not flow. Jalen Brunson was carrying too much. The defense was the only thing keeping nights afloat.

Mike Brown, Rich noted, was choice F after the Knicks kicked the tires on every coach they thought might leave a job for theirs. The result so far is that nobody looks gassed.

"This wasn't even close," Rich said. "And it's not like the Denver Nuggets of the ABA here, where they're winning 141 to 130 and they're not playing defense like they did maybe under Thibs."

Joel Embiid missed 11 of 14 shots. Tyrese Maxey did not score a basket until the second quarter. Nick Nurse pulled the starters in the third because the game was over. The Sixers, Rich said, looked like the team that was tired. New York, after a five-day rest from a Game 6 series-clincher, looked sharper than at any point during the regular season.

Karl-Anthony Towns, asked about the run after the game, did not seem surprised.

"You hope that at this time you're the best version of ourselves," Towns said. "For all the guys who've been covering us all year, I've always talked about that getting better one percent every single day. At the end, we need to be proud and happy of the result we bring in the playoffs. We're seeing a culmination of the trials and tribulations we went through in the season."

Brockman, the Celtics fan in the room, sounded resigned about a series that started Tuesday. The Knicks, he conceded, look like the best team in the East. The follow-up he offered was the only one Rich would not entertain: this series feels over.

Rich pushed back gently. The same was said about the Atlanta series after a Game 1 blowout. "Result one in the NBA," Rich argued, "has nothing to do with result two more than any other sport with a series." The format gives the trailing team a chance to recalibrate, and the Knicks have not yet faced anyone with their fastball.

The Sixers, in his read, are not yet beaten. They are just very, very tired.