The New York Knicks laid a first-half beating like we’ve never seen on the Atlanta Hawks in Game 6 of their first-round series on Thursday. I can safely say you have never seen a first half of a playoff game like this — regardless of your age — because it’s never happened in the history of the NBA.
After 24 minutes, the Knicks went into the locker room with an 83-36 lead. Do the math. That’s a 47-point lead. It resulted in a 51-point win (140-89) that ended Atlanta’s season.
Only one team in history has ever held a bigger halftime advantage, and that was not in a playoff game.
Biggest halftime leads in NBA history
This was a tsunami from the start. After the first quarter, the Knicks were up 40-15. At one point, the Knicks were on a 41-4 run. It was absolutely unbelievable. This game, and series, were over.
OG Anunoby finished with a game-best 29 points. Karl-Anthony Towns had a triple-double. Every Knicks starter scored in double figures. The Knicks shot a blistering 58.8% from the floor. The Hawks, meanwhile, shot 37.8% from the field and made just nine of their 35 3-point attempts. Jonathan Kuminga was a -44 in 22 minutes of action. But, hey, Atlanta outscored New York, 25-23, in the fourth quarter.
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The Hawks did have a 2-1 lead in this series after Game 3, thanks to back-to-back wins where Atlanta came through in crunch time. The Knicks, however, responded with three consecutive wins by a combined 96 points.
“It’s understandable, the fans didn’t know what version they would see of us,” Towns told reporters. “Especially during this series, we didn’t play our best basketball. For us to make a statement about who we could be when we’re clicking on all cylinders, it’s great for us to have this kind of tape that we could look back at it and see when we’re playing our best. What are we doing correctly? It’s about consistency in the playoffs. How many times can we do that in a seven-game series?”
