Rabbit Hole: Knicks in 6
It's always 118-115 in Philadelphia
The Knicks closed out the 76ers in Game 6 of their first-round series, wrapping up the series with a 118-115 triumph in Philly that marked a scorigami for a Game 6.
Seven other playoff games have had a 118-115 score, with only one true road team winning (the Bucks beat the Heat as the away team in Game 4 of their bubble series). It was also in Philadelphia: Game 5 of the 1977 Eastern Conference finals, won by the Rockets before the Sixers went back to Houston and finished the series in six.
Without the three-point line, a 118-115 final in 1977 wasn’t quite as dramatic as in 2024, though it was still a 109-108 lead for the 76ers with 1:44 left before a John Lucas shot put the Rockets ahead.
The most dramatic 118-115 game definitely was decided by a three-pointer, and it was just a few years ago in Portland: Dame Time against the Thunder.
Damian Lillard is now out of this postseason, as the Bucks went out 120-98 in Game 6, a score seen in one previous playoff game — the 1996 Spurs’ Game 1 in in the first round against the Suns. It was the last series Charles Barkley played in Phoenix before moving on to Houston for the rest of his career.
Sir Charles, of course, is on TNT, and this might be a historic YouTube rabbit hole post, but let’s re-live last night’s Knicks highlights again for funsies…
Jalen Brunson finished the series with three straight 40-point games, tying Bubble Jamal Murray (all against the Jazz) and 2001 Allen Iverson (last two games of the conference finals and Game 1 against the Lakers) for the longest 40-point streaks in the playoffs this century.
Only three 40-point streaks have ever gone longer in the playoffs: Jerry West’s record six in 1965 (all in the West finals against the Baltimore Bullets), Michael Jordan’s four in 1993 (all in the NBA Finals against the Suns), and Bernard King in 1984 (all against the Pistons to close out the best-of-five first-round series).
Even back then, the Knicks were closing out series on the road. The wait goes on for the first time a 2000s Garden crowd gets to celebrate advancing to the next round, but would you look at that, it’s the Indiana Pacers coming to town…