Game Recap: 2026 NBA Playoffs Round 2, Game 1 – NYK vs. PHI; W; PHI: 98, NYK: 137
No NBA team has ever led another by 30+ points in three straight playoff games. No NBA team has ever won three straight playoff games by 25+ points. Only one NBA team has ever finished one series with a 30-point win and started the next with equal dominance.
Until now.
On Monday night at Madison Square Garden, the Knicks defeated the Philadelphia 76ers 137-98 in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals. In a highly anticipated opening game between the Finals hopefuls and the confident underdogs who upset Boston, the Knicks dismantled Philadelphia’s confidence brick by brick. In their last four games, the Knicks have outscored opponents by 135 points.
Joel Embiid is the enemy. Game 1 was close, even competitive, for the first eight minutes, until the flopping fish put the 76ers ahead 19-18 with four minutes remaining in the first quarter. Jalen Brunson responded with a go-ahead triple, giving the Knicks a lead they never relinquished.
Notably, at the 9:24 mark of the opening frame, Karl-Anthony Towns stripped Embiid of the basketball, and while running the other way, an angry Embiid shoved Josh Hart from behind. As Hart hit the deck, Embiid was merely assessed a personal foul, but he provoked the Garden Faithful and their team.
Embiid is a dirty player. In the playoffs two years ago, he stepped on Mitchell Robinson’s ankle, knocking him out for that season and half of the following season. Embiid is nursing a hip contusion, which, undoubtedly, slowed him down on Monday. Yet Embiid – again, a dirty player – called out Knicks players for targeting his injured areas while guarding him.
“If [the injury] was that bad, then don’t play,” Tiki Barber said on WFAN. “If it’s gonna hurt to physically be hurt, and someone might run into you, accidentally or otherwise, then don’t play. […] It’s part of the risk of playing when you’re hurt, so stop being a b***h.”
This morning, it was announced that Embiid will not play in Game 2. Per reports, his ankle and hip injuries are too much to handle.
“You play hurt,” Barber said. “You have to, especially when it means something to you. You don’t complain about it. You just don’t. Because if you do, it’s like, ‘Give me sympathy.’ […] That’s just weak. I don’t love that. I didn’t think that about him. That’s like a crime against sports honor.”
Unless his injuries are truly intolerable, Embiid is begging for sympathy. Well, Joel, one thing is for certain: Knicks fans, Robinson, and Towns will not be giving you any sympathy. Robinson’s issue with Embiid is the ankle injury he suffered two years ago, but Towns has a documented personal vendetta against him.
In 2019, Towns and Embiid got into an in-game wrestling match on the court, resulting in multi-game suspensions and a heated social media exchange. That didn’t show on Monday because Embiid had already reached a point so low that it would have just been cruel for the Knicks to kick him.
Brunson matched up with Embiid frequently, including his phenomenal final play of the second quarter. Embiid dropped back in coverage to leave Brunson open for a three-pointer, putting the Knicks ahead by 23 points. It was Brunson’s 27thpoint of the half.
All night, the Knicks forced an injured Embiid into the pick-and-roll, which effectively eliminated him from Philadelphia’s defensive game plan. Brunson scored a game-high 35 points, complemented by 18 from OG Anunoby. Four Knicks players scored more points than Paul George, Philadelphia’s leading scorer, who totaled 17. Embiid, Philadelphia’s second-highest scorer, finished with 14 points.
“Our guys did a good job of setting screens for [Brunson], and his pace — his change of speed, all that stuff with the basketball — was really good,” said head coach Mike Brown, whose only complaint had to do with the number of fouls his players took. Philadelphia shot 27-of-34 from the free-throw line.
“[The Sixers] like to play in a drop, and [Brunson] was able to come off and get pocket threes because we had good screens,” Brown added. “And when he did that, it made [Embiid] come up the floor a little bit, and then he was able to get by him.”
Embiid played a major role in all the Knicks’ fouls. It didn’t take long for Towns and Robinson, who each finished with four personals, to get into foul trouble. Robinson played just under 12 minutes, but because of Philadelphia’s “Hack-A-Mitch” strategy, Brown gave Ariel Hukporti extra playing time.
Hukporti was excellent at center, securing two blocks and nine rebounds in 17 minutes. This was partially because Embiid was injured and the Sixers were tired from a seven-game comeback against Boston. However, Hukporti deserves credit for stepping up and contributing in a big moment for a Knicks team that is two-deep at center.
Mikal Bridges was also excellent in Game 1, scoring 17 points on a night when Hart was held to eight. Bridges, who went scoreless for six quarters in Round 1, shot 7-for-10 from the field. More brilliant, he limited the explosive Tyrese Maxey to 13 points.
Bridges also played a major role in holding one of the NBA’s best transition offenses to three fastbreak points, while the Knicks scored 16. They also outscored the Sixers 58-32 in the paint.
Before Game 4 of the Knicks’ first-round series against Atlanta, I criticized Brown for continuing to include an unproductive Bridges in his starting lineup. Then, when the series ended, I made sure to applaud Bridges for his defense. Was Bridges worth five first-round picks? Not unless he continues to hold one of the Association’s best shooters to 33% from the field.
“He didn’t shut Maxey down,” Brown said of Bridges. “Maxey missed some shots, and our team defense behind [Bridges] was pretty good. But the one thing that I give Mikal a lot of credit for is his alertness and his ability to have multiple efforts when guarding Maxey because Maxey is similar to [Stephen Curry], where he’s constantly moving, especially when it comes to the two-man game with Embiid.”
Tonight, with Embiid sidelined, that “two-man game” will not exist, so the Knicks will have no excuses if they lose. They must take advantage of a shorthanded 76ers team and make Embiid’s teammates pay for his transgressions. If the Knicks can take a 2-0 lead on the road, they will be well on their way to a series win.
Game 2 is scheduled for tonight, 5/6 at 7 PM (ESPN, ESPN App).
Cover Image Courtesy: New York Knicks
