The New York Knicks destroyed the Atlanta Hawks 140-89 in Game 6 on Thursday to win the series and advance to the second round.
TOP NEWS
This first round series had been a close battle, but Thursday’s showdown was anything but competitive. New York dominated every aspect of the game from the very beginning.
Not only did the Knicks overwhelm the Hawks with 26 shot attempts in the first quarter, they also made 69% of them. On the other end, New York stifled the Hawks offense completely.
OG Anunoby put up 14 points in 10 first-quarter minutes as the Knicks finished the period up 40-15.
The second quarter was the Hawks’ best chance to rally back into the game, but what happened was the exact opposite. Anunoby continued to lead a defense that relentlessly smothered Atlanta, all while driving the red-hot offense that maintained the shot-making.
As a result, the Knicks were up b 47 points, the largest halftime lead in NBA playoff history.
The third quarter saw New York’s starters maintain the heroic play to extend the lead past 50 and sub out early for the night. After three quarters, the Knicks led 117-64.
New York’s second scoring option was an unexpected one as Mikal Bridges poured in tons of points on near-perfect efficiency, despite being very quiet earlier in the series.
The fourth quarter was more of a formality as the Hawks never made any sort of comeback at all.
Anunoby finished with 29 points, seven assists and four steals on 11-of-14 shooting while Bridges put up 24 points and five rebounds on 10-of-12 shooting.
For Atlanta, Jalen Johnson put up 21 points, eight rebounds and six assists.
The Knicks led by 61 at one point, the largest playoff lead of the play-by-play era. They also finished with the most points in Knicks playoff history.
James Parker is a sports writer for Ball Exclusives, follow him on X @TheJames_Parker
