PHILADELPHIA — This isn’t how home-court advantage is supposed to work. It’s supposed to benefit the team wearing the hometown colors, not the players visiting so-called hostile territory.
But New York is only a 90-minute ride from Xfinity Mobile Arena, which — as of Sunday, May 10, 2026 at approximately 3:40 p.m. — no longer belongs to Josh Harris and David Blitzer’s Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment.
It now belongs to the New York Knicks. And so, apparently, do the Philadelphia 76ers.
The Knicks dusted off the belt they used in their 51-point first-round elimination game against the Atlanta Hawks and applied it again with force in a 144-114 rout to complete a 4-0 second-round sweep of the Philadelphia 76ers on Sunday.
For the second straight season, the Knicks are headed to the Eastern Conference Finals. Only this time, there was no resistance.
Not from a Sixers team that surrendered 80 first-half points. Not from a Philadelphia fan base badly outnumbered in its own building in Game 3 before barely showing up for Game 4. Maybe the Sixers players mentally booked their flights from Madison Square Garden East to Cancun before tipoff, because in the blink of an eye, they were down 20 in the first quarter and trailed by nearly 30 for most of the afternoon.
This was never a home game for Philadelphia.
The arena fell silent when Joel Embiid drilled a second-quarter three, then erupted when Karl-Anthony Towns answered with one on the other end. The crowd booed Tyrese Maxey at the foul line, then roared “Deuuuuce!” as Miles McBride buried three straight triples during his personal 9-0 first-quarter burst.
The Knicks presence in the City of Brotherly Love was so overwhelming the arena cranked up both the music and the public-address announcer in a futile attempt to drown out one of professional sports’ most rabid fan bases.
It didn’t work — largely because the Sixers gave their fans nothing to cheer for.
Embiid scored 24 points, but Mikal Bridges held Maxey to 17 yet again. VJ Edgecombe shot just 4-of-14 from the field for eight points. Paul George scored seven. Philadelphia’s starters combined to make four threes.
McBride made seven by himself.
No sequence sent the building deeper into Knicks delirium than the knockout blow midway through the third quarter. With 7:30 left, Jalen Brunson crossed over Philadelphia’s Dominic Barlow twice before finishing a driving reverse layup. Mikal Bridges immediately stole the ensuing inbounds pass and found Brunson alone in the corner for three, pushing the Knicks’ lead back to a laughable 29 points.
Nick Nurse had no choice but to call timeout. In reality, he was waving the white flag.
And perhaps the most impressive part? The Knicks delivered two of their most dominant performances of the second round without OG Anunoby.
Mike Brown ruled Anunoby out before tipoff as he continues recovering from the right hamstring strain suffered late in Game 2. Brown offered no additional update beyond Anunoby remaining day-to-day. In his place, Brown inserted McBride into the starting lineup.
“Deuce, he’s not afraid. He gives us the ability to make shots from range and or the ability to go get a shot. He gives us another ball handler. He’s a really good defender, and he’s versatile,” Brown said before the game. “When he’s on the floor with Jalen, analytically they’re pretty good together. But he just brings a lot to the table for us on both ends of the floor, last thing offensively he’s got to be guarded because he can makes shots.”
McBride rewarded that trust immediately. On one first-quarter possession, he screened for Karl-Anthony Towns near halfcourt. Towns turned the corner, got downhill and dumped the ball off to Mitchell Robinson for an easy dunk.
The crowd erupted again.
The Knicks won’t get this kind of road-court advantage if they meet the Detroit Pistons in the conference finals. Detroit leads its second-round series against the Cleveland Cavaliers 2-1, and Little Caesars Arena proved one of the Knicks’ toughest road environments a season ago.
Unlike the Sixers, the Pistons won’t roll over in a playoff game, either. They beat the Knicks by 31 and 37 during the regular season before completing the season series sweep with a 15-point victory in a game both centers Jalen Duren and Isaiah Stewart sat with suspensions.
The Pistons are 6-1 against the Knicks over the last two seasons. Last season’s playoff series, with some luck and missed calls, ended with the Knicks in six.
The Knicks needed six to get by the Atlanta Hawks. They only needed four to put away the very 76ers team responsible for ending the Boston Celtics’ season in the first round.
And now, they get at least a week to rest, recover, and get ready for Round 3. The Knicks will need all the R-and-R they can get. Because their first- and second-round playoff obstacles pale in comparison to what awaits with a trip to the NBA Finals on the line.
