Jalen Brunson and the New York Knicks just keep on rolling.
The Knicks won Game One of their East Conference semifinals against the Philadelphia 76ers 137-98 and in the process became the first team to win three successive post-season games by at least a 25-point margin.
Having blown out the Atlanta Hawks in round one, the Knicks showed no signs of slowing down with Brunson leading from the front with 35 points to give New York the early lead in the series.
“That’s why you play a season,” Brunson said. “That’s why you go through adversity. You find things to make you the best team as possible by the end of the year. And even at this point, you find ways to get better and improve.
“There’s never a time when you look back and say, we’re good now, we don’t have to continue to work and continue to get better. It’s not the case at all.
“I feel like our focus has been better. Our attention to detail has been better. Honestly, I think those two are very important for us. We gotta continue to do so.
“Yes, it’s turned into big wins. But that attention to detail will help us in the close wins as well.”
Brunson scored 27 points in the first half to tilt the outcome decisively in New York’s favour with the 76ers signalling they were done midway through the third quarter when coach Nick Nurse pulled all his starters.
Brunson says Knicks won’t relax
Game Two is at Madison Square Garden tomorrow night and Brunson is expecting the 76ers to come out fighting.
“I don’t think we’re going to see that team, from Game 1 to Game 2,” Brunson said. “They’ll be ready to go.”
Nurse will certainly hope for a better performance from his side after admitting Sunday’s was a painful contest to witness.
“It wasn’t any fun to sit there,” he said. “Wasn’t any fun to be a part of, to be honest, and watch. But it’s 1-0. Doesn’t really matter if it’s six points or 36, or whatever the hell it was.
“We got to wash that one away and get back, and we’re going to have to find and provide much more energy and physicality and that kind of stuff.”
Paul George top scored with 17 points for a 76ers side that also got 14 from Joel Embiid.
