ATLANTA (AP) — OG Anunoby scored 29 points in 27 minutes, Karl-Anthony Towns had his second triple-double of the series and the New York Knicks had their biggest playoff victory in franchise history, overwhelming and eliminating the Atlanta Hawks 140-89 in Game 6 on Thursday night.
The Knicks broke several NBA records by halftime. Their 40-15 lead at the end of the first quarter marked the largest of the shot clock era. Their 47-point halftime lead was the biggest in playoff history.
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New York Knicks center Mitchell Robinson (23) and Atlanta Hawks guard Dyson Daniels (5) fight in the first half during Game 6 in a first-round NBA basketball playoffs series Thursday, April 30, 2026, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson (11) celebrates after scoring in the first half during Game 6 in a first-round NBA basketball playoffs series against the Atlanta Hawks Thursday, April 30, 2026, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
New York Knicks center Mitchell Robinson (23) and Atlanta Hawks guard Dyson Daniels (5) fight in the first half during Game 6 in a first-round NBA basketball playoffs series Thursday, April 30, 2026, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
New York Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns (32) celebrates scoring in the first half during Game 6 in a first-round NBA basketball playoffs series against the Atlanta Hawks Thursday, April 30, 2026, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
New York Knicks center Mitchell Robinson (23) celebrates after scoring in the first half during Game 6 in a first-round NBA basketball playoffs series against the Atlanta Hawks Thursday, April 30, 2026, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
It was New York’s third straight win after falling to 1-2 in the series following back-to-back one-point losses.
“It speaks volumes on our team that we were able to bounce back from two disappointing losses,” Towns said. “We had to step up to the challenge of being down in the series — super proud of our guys for that.”
New York's 51-point win tied for the sixth-largest margin of victory in NBA postseason history.
Dyson Daniels and Mitchell Robinson were ejected after fighting following a pair of free throws from Anunoby that gave the Knicks a 50-point lead in the second quarter.
The Knicks exceeded 100 points with 8:21 remaining in the third quarter. New York's starters were done for the night with 2:45 remaining in the third.
“It was just a tough position to be in,” Atlanta's Jalen Johnson said. “We dug ourselves a deep hole from the start and it was tough to climb out of that.”
Anunoby scored 26 of his points in the first half. Mikal Bridges finished with 24. Towns, five days after becoming the fourth Knicks player with a playoff triple-double, had 12 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists.
The Hawks were 12 for 39 from the field in the first half and 4 for 18 from 3-point range. Atlanta had 14 turnovers in the first half.
Johnson led the Hawks with 21 points. Nickeil Alexander-Walker, CJ McCollum and Jonathan Kuminga each had 11 points.
The Knicks will face the winner of the Boston Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers series in the Eastern Conference semifinals.
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New York Knicks center Mitchell Robinson (23) and Atlanta Hawks guard Dyson Daniels (5) fight in the first half during Game 6 in a first-round NBA basketball playoffs series Thursday, April 30, 2026, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson (11) celebrates after scoring in the first half during Game 6 in a first-round NBA basketball playoffs series against the Atlanta Hawks Thursday, April 30, 2026, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
New York Knicks center Mitchell Robinson (23) and Atlanta Hawks guard Dyson Daniels (5) fight in the first half during Game 6 in a first-round NBA basketball playoffs series Thursday, April 30, 2026, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
New York Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns (32) celebrates scoring in the first half during Game 6 in a first-round NBA basketball playoffs series against the Atlanta Hawks Thursday, April 30, 2026, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
New York Knicks center Mitchell Robinson (23) celebrates after scoring in the first half during Game 6 in a first-round NBA basketball playoffs series against the Atlanta Hawks Thursday, April 30, 2026, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
PENSACOLA, Fla. (AP) — People in the Florida Panhandle and southern Alabama cleaned up after Isaias swept through as the storm's remnants brought the risk of flooding to the central Appalachians and the mid-Atlantic region on Sunday. Meanwhile, significant waves from Rachel, a former tropical storm, battered the coast of Southern California.
“Major coastal flooding has already been occurring in some areas, with observed water levels running as much as 1.5 feet above predictions,” the National Hurricane Center said, noting that high waves are coinciding with high tides.
In western North Carolina, rivers overflowed as heavy rainfall raised the risk of flash and urban flooding, according to the National Weather Service. Tornadoes were possible in parts of Virginia and North Carolina, and life-threatening surf and rip current conditions were expected to continue along the Gulf and southeastern Atlantic coasts.
At least four deaths were linked to Isaias, the first hurricane of the Atlantic season, which came ashore as a Category 2 hurricane Friday near Destin, Florida, a Gulf Coast vacation spot filled with high-rises and tourist shops. The storm then roared into Alabama with tropical-force winds before heading farther north.
In Florida’s Escambia County, Sheriff Chip Simmons said a woman was killed when a tree fell on her home and a man died of carbon monoxide fumes from a generator running in his garage.
One person died when a tree fell on a house in Birmingham, said Cory Moon, the city’s fire chief. A second storm-related death in Alabama was attributed to a motor vehicle crash involving a downed tree in Barbour County, said Josh Johnson of the state’s emergency management agency.
In Burke County, North Carolina, an unhoused male and female were camping when floodwaters from the Catawba River caught them off guard. They were rescued, along with their dog, according to a spokesperson for the county emergency management agency. Separately, a woman trapped inside her car in floodwaters was freed outside of Morganton.
In McDowell County, North Carolina, just west of Burke County, first responders said they dealt with five landslides and voluntary evacuations overnight Saturday into Sunday as they responded to flooded roads and streams overflowing their banks.
“Despite a challenging night, we are thankful to report no known injuries or loss of life. We call that a success!” the county emergency management agency posted online.
Nearly a dozen local weather stations in the western North Carolina county reported torrential 24-hour rainfall totals at 9 a.m. Sunday, from about 5 inches (13 centimeters) to as much as 9.57 inches (24 centimeters) at the fire/rescue station in Enola. The National Weather Service said rainfall was diminishing in the area but that rapid river rises and flooding remained possible.
Hurricane-force winds in the Florida Panhandle blew the roof off a Pensacola hotel, and the city’s mayor said the airport “took some damage.” The storm flattened a boathouse in Destin and ripped away part of the facade of a high-rise in Panama City Beach.
At a church in Pensacola where the United Cajun Navy was distributing supplies Sunday morning, a line of hundreds of cars stretched around the block. Yvette Haro said she arrived at 5 a.m. after being turned away the previous day because supplies had run out.
With a 10-year-old son and a 5-year-old daughter at home, she said it's hard to go to stores and wait in long lines. She was looking for water, paper towels, toilet paper and cleaning supplies.
“Anything that they’re willing to give us is helpful,” she said.
While her home didn't suffer any damage, the loss of electricity was making things difficult, Haro said. “The biggest thing is our food going bad. It’s really hard to keep grilling everything and then where do we store all this food?”
Roughly 356,000 customers were without power Sunday at 2:30 p.m. ET in southern Alabama and the Florida Panhandle, according to poweroutage.com.
Sarah Gatewood, a spokesperson for Florida Power & Light, said workers from all over Florida and from more than two dozen other states were mobilized to help restore power.
Rachel became a post-tropical cyclone overnight, bringing unusually big waves to Southern California, and it dissipated over Las Vegas as it drenched deserts across the Southwest.
Waves battered a century-old wooden boardwalk on the Long Beach peninsula and forced homeowners to evacuate. The strip of multimillion-dollar oceanfront properties, along with much of the Southern California coastline, was already reeling from Hurricane Marie in September.
“This area is completely shattered and vulnerable,” Jack Gordon, a Long Beach real estate agent, said. “The fact that Rachel came and gave it the knockout blow — I don’t want to say it can’t get any worse for these houses, but it’s really, really sad.”
Long Beach Mayor Rex Richardson said that the storm would affect the whole city, and urged city residents to avoid the peninsula through the weekend as crews worked to clean up the area. More than half a dozen houses along the coast were declared structurally unsafe.
“It is not normal that we see this type of activity, especially for our residents in the peninsula,” Richardson said Saturday. “These kind of impacts are not normal, they are unprecedented for our community.”
And in the Pacific, Hurricane Simon was a Category 4 storm as it pounded Mexico’s Pacific coast Sunday, its eye remaining just offshore as its most powerful winds and rain slammed people living between the Sierra Madre and the ocean.
Brumback reported from Atlanta. Walker reported from New York. Kathy McCormack in Concord, New Hampshire, and Jack Brook in New Orleans also contributed.
Waves damage a home in Long Beach, Calif., Saturday, Oct. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/William Liang)
Downed trees are seen in lawns in the aftermath of Hurricane Isaias in Milton, Fla., Saturday, Oct. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Instructors from the San Diego Surf School give surfing lessons to two children in San Diego on Sunday, Oct. 11, 2026. (Denis Poroy/AP Photo)
Onlookers watch as storm driven surf batters the bluffs in the La Jolla area of San Diego on Sunday, Oct. 11, 2026. (Denis Poroy/AP Photo)
In an aerial view, beachfront homes have damaged decks after waves crashed into them during high tide and storm surge from Tropical Storm Rachel, Saturday, Oct. 10, 2026, in Long Beach, Calif. (Stephen Lam/San Francisco Chronicle via AP)
In an aerial view, waves crash into beachfront homes during high tide and storm surge from Tropical Storm Rachel, Saturday, Oct. 10, 2026, in Long Beach, Calif. (Stephen Lam/San Francisco Chronicle via AP)
Jeff Lundy cuts up a pine tree that fell on his father-in-law's house during Isaias on Saturday, Oct. 10, 2026, in Milton, Fla. (AP Photo/Octavio Jones)
Baleigh Ziglar walks around downed trees in front of her mother's home in the aftermath of Hurricane Isaias in Milton, Fla., Saturday, Oct. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Curt Brown picks up debris left by Isaias around his RV home on Saturday, Oct. 10, 2026, in Milton, Fla. (AP Photo/Octavio Jones)
People salvage the contents of their destroyed mini mart in the aftermath of Hurricane Isaias in Milton, Fla., Saturday, Oct. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
An apartment complex which had its roof ripped off is seen in the aftermath of Hurricane Isaias in Milton, Fla., Saturday, Oct. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
