The Knicks reached the conference finals for the first time in 25 years and ended the one-year NBA title reign of the Boston Celtics with astonishing ease, rolling to a 119-81 victory in Game 6 on Friday night.
On the way to their postgame press conference, Josh Hart showed Mikal Bridges a video of a fan climbing a light pole outside the arena.
“I’m new here but just know how much New York loves their sports, especially the Knicks,” Bridges said. “So, excited to be a part of it. They enjoy it for us right now but obviously we got way more to go.”
Brunson and OG Anunoby each scored 23 points for the Knicks, who will face the Indiana Pacers, the same team they met in their last conference finals appearance in 2000. Game 1 is Wednesday night in New York.
“It’s a great win. We advance .You look at that, but you also understand you have to get ready for the next series,” Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said. “The Pacers are a terrific team and we’re going to have to be ready.”
The Knicks hadn’t won a playoff series on their home floor since the 1999 East finals. So the celebrating started late in the one-sided first half and was sure to carry on deep into the night around the arena.
Bridges scored 22 points and Karl-Anthony Towns had 21 for the Knicks, whose 38-point margin of victory was their largest in a postseason game.
Boston coach Joe Mazzulla began pulling his starters in the third quarter after the deficit reached 41 points.
“We didn’t have the same team this year that we had last year,” Celtics guard Derrick White said. “Every year it’s a different team. We had a goal at the beginning of the year and we fell short.”
