Knicks roll into Round 2, await 76ers-Celtics winner and wonder if they've found their best groove

There was an NCAA tournament game in 2016 when Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart and Mikal Bridges all were on the winning side of a historic blowout, a 44-point victory that is still the biggest in Final Four history.

They went on to win that season's national championship at Villanova.

Fast forward a decade: Brunson, Hart and Bridges were all on the winning side of another historic postseason blowout Thursday night, this one coming when the New York Knicks beat the Atlanta Hawks by 51 points to advance to the Eastern Conference semifinals. The lead was an NBA-playoff-record 47 at the half, and New York eventually led by 61.

Time will tell if another championship awaits.

“I think it shows the kind of team we are — what we can be,” Hart said.

Next up for the Knicks is an Eastern Conference semifinal matchup against either Boston or Philadelphia. Game 1 is Monday night; if the Celtics are the Knicks' opponent the series will begin in Boston, otherwise it'll begin in New York.

A week or so ago, the Knicks trailed the Hawks 2-1 in the series after back-to-back one-point losses and looked very much like a team on the brink of trouble. New York went 3-0 from there by a combined 96 points — the second-most-lopsided three-game stretch in NBA playoff history.

“Feel good about tonight and tomorrow we turn the page," Brunson said Thursday night after the rout was complete in Atlanta. "It’s good to celebrate the wins, but we can’t let this drag on. We got to refocus up. So, we wake up tomorrow, it’s on to the next.”

That's exactly what Brunson, Bridges and Hart had to do in that 2016 NCAA title run. (Poor Buddy Hield; he was on the losing side of that 95-51 Villanova win over Oklahoma in the Final Four, and on the losing side of this series as well.)

It won't guarantee anything, of course. New York is in the second round for the fourth consecutive season — the Knicks haven't enjoyed a run like this since a nine-season stretch from 1992 through 2000 — but there's still a ton of work left to do.

When this series against Atlanta ended, Knicks coach Mike Brown thanked tons of people — all his staffers, coaches, players and more. He also thanked someone who Knicks fans probably weren't thinking of.

“Quin Snyder,” Brown said.

That's right — the Atlanta coach.

Snyder forced Brown's hand in this series, and when Atlanta went up 2-1 the Knicks went back to the drawing board in multiple ways — namely how they played offense. Brown prefers something more free-flowing, where players could react instinctively based on what's happening within an action. Snyder and the Hawks took that away for the first three games.

In the second three games, New York shot 55% and averaged 126.7 points. The adjustments worked.

“They forced us to put our thinking caps on, and they forced us play different, find ways to make the game easier for our players, putting them in their strengths while trying not to hinder them," Brown said. “We've changed what we’ve done offensively, but again, it was because we were pushed to do it. And we feel pretty good about it.”

Game 7 between the Celtics and 76ers is Saturday. The East No. 1 seed is Detroit, and Orlando has them in trouble in Round 1. The East No. 2 seed is Boston, which now faces a Game 7 just to get out of Round 1.

The third-seeded Knicks? They're not sweating anything for the next few days.

“The fans didn’t know what version they would see of us, especially during this series. We didn’t play our best basketball,” the Knicks' Karl-Anthony Towns said. “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 so we could look back at it and see when we’re playing our best, what are we doing correctly.”

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Atlanta Hawks forward Jalen Johnson (1) congratulates New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson (11) after 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) high fives fans as he leaves the court in the second 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) before 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 guard Josh Hart (3) shoots during Game 6 in a first-round NBA basketball playoffs series Thursday, April 30, 2026, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Israeli authorities say they are taking two activists who led an aid flotilla bound for Gaza — and who were captured by Israel in international waters of the Mediterranean Sea — to Israel for questioning.

The activists, Palestinian-Spanish citizen Saif Abukeshek and Brazilian citizen Thiago Ávila, were among dozens of activists intercepted by the Israeli navy off the coast of Crete. They are members of the Global Sumud Flotilla's steering committee, whose mission was to break Israel's naval blockade and bring some humanitarian aid to the Palestinian territory.

In all, some 20 boats and 175 activists were intercepted by the Israeli navy. Activists said Israeli forces stormed their vessels, smashed engines and detained some of those onboard. The incident occurred hundreds of miles (kilometers) from Gaza and Israel overnight from Wednesday to Thursday.

Israeli officials said they needed to take early action against the flotilla before it reached Israeli waters because of the high number of boats involved.

On Friday the Israeli Foreign Ministry said on X that it was taking the two activists to Israel for questioning, and that Abukeshek was “suspected of affiliation with a terrorist organization” and Ávila was “suspected of illegal activity," without providing evidence.

The Global Sumud Flotilla appealed for international support. “We demand that all governments do all they can to pressure the Israeli regime to release all the illegal abductees," the group said Friday.

Spain's foreign ministry said in a statement Friday the Spanish government condemned the detention of Abukeshek, and demanded "his immediate release.”

“The Spanish embassies and consulates in Greece and Israel are mobilized to provide full protection to the Spanish citizen as soon as he arrives in Israeli territory, as well as to all other affected Spaniards,” the Spanish foreign ministry's statement added.

The rest of the flotilla participants of various nationalities were released in Crete. Organizers on Friday said Israeli authorities had denied them food and water and they were "forced to sleep on floors that were deliberately and repeatedly flooded.”

When Israeli forces proceeded to take Abukeshek and Ávila away, the group resisted and were met with “sheer violence,” flotilla organizers said in a statement Friday.

“Participants were punched, kicked and dragged across the deck with their hands bound behind their backs. They suffered broken noses, cracked ribs and bloody beatings. Shots were even fired at them in the chaos,” the statement said.

Israeli authorities did not immediately respond to the accusations. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar had said Thursday that activists “taken off the vessels were taken off unharmed.”

Of the 53 vessels that had been sailing prior to the interception, 31 reached safe waters and would continue their attempts to “break the illegal siege of Gaza,” organizers said.

The flotilla set sail earlier this month from Barcelona, Spain. Organizers have said more than 70 boats and 1,000 people from around the world would be participating, with more vessels joining the original boats as the flotilla sailed east across the Mediterranean.

The Greek foreign ministry said Thursday that it had asked Israel to withdraw its ships from the area and had offered its “good services” for the activists to disembark in Greece and be repatriated.

Protests in solidarity with the flotilla erupted across several capitals including in Rome, Athens and Istanbul.

Brazil has not yet commented on the detention and transfer to Israel of its citizen, Ávila, but in a joint statement with Spain and several other nations late Thursday it said that Israel's interception of the flotilla and detention of the activists in international waters “constitute flagrant violations of international law and international humanitarian law."

The flotilla’s latest attempt to reach Gaza comes less than a year after Israeli authorities foiled a previous effort by the group. That attempt involved about 50 vessels and around 500 activists, including Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, Nelson Mandela’s grandson Mandla Mandela, and several lawmakers.

Israel arrested, detained and later deported the participants, including Ávila, who claimed Israeli authorities abused them while in detention. Israeli authorities denied the accusations.

Demonstrators wave a giant Palestinian flag outside Greece's Foreign Ministry in Athens, Thursday, April 30, 2026, during a rally to protest the interception of Gaza aid ships by Israeli forces near Greek waters. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

People march during a rally to protest against the interception of the Gaza aid ships "Global Sumud Flotilla" by Israeli forces near Greek waters, in Istanbul, Turkey, April 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

Boats carrying activists and humanitarian aid for Palestinians in Gaza reposition in the port during a symbolic send-off as part of the Global Sumud Flotilla, in Barcelona, Spain, Sunday, April 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Joan Mateu Parra)

People stage a protest after activists attempting to break Israel's maritime blockade of Gaza say Israeli forces have intercepted their "Global Sumud Flotilla" near the southern Greek island of Crete, in Rome, Thursday, April 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

This grab from black and white CCTV footage shows members on flotilla boat with hands in air as Israeli forces intercepted activists who set sail earlier this month from Barcelona attempting to break Israel’s maritime blockade of Gaza, near the southern Greek island of Crete, early Thursday, April 30, 2026. (Global Sumud Flotilla via AP)