The New York Knicks are moving on to the second round of the NBA playoffs, and they did it in emphatic fashion, beating down the Atlanta Hawks in Game 6 by the score of 140-89. The Knicks led at halftime by 47 points, the largest margin in NBA playoff history. They also set the franchise record for the largest margin of victory in the postseason, winning by 51 points.
The best player on the court Thursday night was Knicks forward OG Anunoby. In the Knicks’ bludgeoning of the Hawks in Game 6, Anunoby put on a show, putting up 29 points in only 27 minutes. Anunoby was extremely active defensively, constantly getting deflections, as he recorded four steals in this one.
Along with Anunoby, Mikal Bridges was awesome and turned in his best game of the series. Bridges put up 24 points while going 10-for-12 from the field and 2-for-2 from beyond the arc. Bridges had struggled mightily coming into Game 6 and had been ridiculed heavily in the media. For Bridges to put together a masterful performance to help the Knicks advance to the second round is huge for the Knicks, and even bigger for the confidence of Mikal Bridges.
After Game 3, where the Knicks suffered their second consecutive one-point loss to the Hawks (109-108) and were down in the series 2-1, head coach Mike Brown and his staff had adjustments to make. The Knicks decided to run the offense more through Karl-Anthony Towns and make him the central playmaker of their scoring attack. This allowed usually ball-dominant point guard Jalen Brunson to play more off-ball. This adjustment proved to pay major dividends in Games 4-6.
Through those three games, the Knicks beat the Hawks by an average of 32 points. The Knicks dominated them in all aspects. In two of those games, Karl-Anthony Towns recorded a triple-double. In that three-game span, Towns averaged 8.7 assists per game; he averaged just 3.0 during the regular season. Additionally, in Game 5, Jalen Brunson played his best game of the series. He scored 39 points and recorded eight assists. He did all of that while committing one turnover.
The Knicks series with the Philadelphia 76ers began Monday, May 4.
