Knicks bury 76ers 144-114 behind Game 4 3-point barrage, back in East finals for 2nd straight year

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart and the New York Knicks are back in the Eastern Conference finals, tying the NBA postseason record with 25 3-pointers in front of a raucous crowd rooting for the road team and rolling past the Philadelphia 76ers 144-114 on Sunday to sweep the second-round series.

Deuce McBride started in place of the injured OG Anunoby and hit seven 3-pointers, going 4 for 4 in the first quarter when the Knicks had another record with 11, and scored 25 points. Brunson had 22 points and Hart and Karl-Anthony Towns each scored 17 in the Knicks' latest lopsided playoff victory.

The Knicks' 19.4 point-per-game margin of victory is the largest through two rounds since the playoffs went to 16 teams in 1984.

“It's just us being very locked in to the moment,” Towns said.

The Knicks advanced to the East finals for the second straight season and will play the winner of the Cleveland-Detroit series. The Pistons lead 2-1.

The Knicks last season reached the conference finals for the first time in 25 years before losing to Indiana. The Knicks then fired coach Tom Thibodeau and replaced him with Mike Brown, who has guided them to seven straight playoff wins, starting with the last three games against Atlanta.

“Our guys tried to take it to another level with their focus on the details and their energy and effort level,” Brown said. “That's a lot of the reason why we're playing pretty good basketball.”

Knicks fans made a habit of scooping up tickets by the thousands at the Sixers' arena for playoffs games over the years, and in Game 4, they may have made the loudest statement yet. They raised brooms outside the arena and waved “Always Knicks” towels once inside, all while noisily neutering the few Sixers fans that didn't make a few extra bucks on the secondary market and stuck around.

The 76ers' franchise failed to stop Knicks fans in their effort to buy tickets.

The 76ers were greater failures in trying to stop the Knicks on the floor.

Game 4 was a laugher from the tip, with the Knicks using the 3-point arc as a starting point for their personal pop-a-shot game.

With Knicks fans on their feet and exclaiming “Deuuuce," McBride hit one, two, three, four — four! — 3-pointers in succession for a 20-6 lead and the Sixers were already on their heels. McBride became the first Knick (since play-by-play tracking began in 1997) to hit four 3s in the first quarter of a playoff game.

New York's 3-point records were just heating up.

Brunson added two in the period (six total) to help make the Knicks 11 of 13, which tied the NBA mark for most makes in a quarter.

The Knicks totaled 18 3s in the first half to score 54 points off the long ball, compared to 57 total for the 76ers. Overall, that was an 81-57 lead and helped power the Knicks toward their first best-of-seven series sweep since the 1999 East semis against Atlanta.

The Knicks scored 80-plus points in the first half twice in five road playoff games this season.

The second half was a mere formality, and the Sixers are headed home after a gutsy 3-1 series comeback to beat Boston in the first round.

“The energy was a big gap between their energy and our energy, I thought," Sixers coach Nick Nurse said.

Joel Embiid ended another injury-riddled season with 24 points, Tyrese Maxey had 17 and the Sixers still have not advanced out of the second round since 2001.

“I came into this year not knowing where I was going to be (with health), how long I was going to play, if I was even going to play based on how the knee was the last few years,” Embiid said. “I came in just hoping for the best and I feel like we're in a position where we figured out the knee. It hasn't been an issue.”

Towns had 10 assists. Hart hit four 3-pointers and celebrated by stripping off his jersey and tossing it to a woman in Sixers gear.

“My right hand remembered that the goal was to make 3s,” Hart said. “Happy to have her back.”

If the sweep and the Knicks' fan takeover didn't saddle the Sixers with enough bad news, there was one final cutting blow to the ego — Philadelphia's two first-round 2018 draft picks are still playing: Mikal Bridges and Landry Shamet, of course, for the Knicks.

AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba

New York Knicks' Karl-Anthony Towns, from left, goes up for a shot against Philadelphia 76ers' Tyrese Maxey, and Joel Embiid during the first half of Game 4 in a second-round NBA basketball playoffs series Sunday, May 10, 2026, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

New York Knicks' fans cheer during the first half of Game 4 against the Philadelphia 76ers in a second-round NBA basketball playoffs series Sunday, May 10, 2026, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

New York Knicks' fans hold up a photo as Philadelphia 76ers' Joel Embiid takes a free-throw shot during the first half of Game 4 against the New York Knicks in a second-round NBA basketball playoffs series Sunday, May 10, 2026, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

New York Knicks' Miles McBride, left, and Jalen Brunson celebrate during the first half of Game 4 against the Philadelphia 76ers in a second-round NBA basketball playoffs series Sunday, May 10, 2026, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

New York Knicks' Miles McBride, left, and Jalen Brunson celebrate during the first half of Game 4 against the Philadelphia 76ers in a second-round NBA basketball playoffs series Sunday, May 10, 2026, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. (AP) — Shane van Gisbergen insists his NASCAR road-course dominance is harder than it looks, and that he feels “a lot of pressure” to beat the best in stock-car racing.

But the Trackhouse Racing driver was in another league Sunday, schooling the stars of the Cup Series at Watkins Glen International.

Starting from the pole position, van Gisbergen scored his seventh Cup Series victory — all on road or street courses — and his second consecutive on the 2.45-mile track by leading 74 of 100 laps in his No. 97 Chevrolet.

“We weren’t very good in practice, and then qualifying was amazing, and then today, what a race car,” van Gisbergen said. “And then (crew chief) Stephen (Doran) made great calls. I wasn’t sure how it was going to work, and then to run them down like that, it's very, very special to do two in a row.”

Pitting from the lead under green with 24 laps remaining, van Gisbergen emerged in 24th and was nearly 30 seconds behind leader Ty Gibbs.

Extending his Cup record of wins by a driver born outside the United States, the New Zealand native needed only 17 laps to retake the lead from Gibbs, winning by 7.288 seconds over Michael McDowell.

“He’s made it pretty clear, especially at these tracks, he likes to be on offense, so we put him there and just let him go do his thing,” Doran said of the call to make a late stop for four tires instead of pitting earlier and conserving fuel as many others did.

Gibbs finished third, followed by Chase Briscoe and points leader Tyler Reddick.

McDowell, who started second, also had to charge through the pack after falling to 27th on his last pit stop. He occasionally thought he could keep pace with the race winner but soon realized van Gisbergen was playing possum.

“It felt like he was just pacing himself off me, and he’d take back off,” McDowell said. “We still got a little work to do, but it’s a good building block.”

Dating to Mexico City last June, van Gisbergen has now won six of the past seven races on road or street courses in Cup.

“It’s not easy,” van Gisbergen said. “Everyone’s really good. McDowell was good. Connor (Zilisch) was good. Tyler Reddick. There were some really good guys and a lot of pressure. So just stoked to execute every facet of our game. And speechless. This is so cool.”

The win by van Gisbergen came a day after a win in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series by rookie teammate Zilisch, who finished 20th Sunday after a tire problem late in the race. It still was a strong showing for Trackhouse, which qualified all three of its cars in the top five after compiling only four top-10 finishes in the first 11 races.

“Just frustrating because we had a really good day going,” Zilisch said. “At worst, we were going to get ourselves our first top five and walk out of here with something. But congrats to Shane, Trackhouse and everybody who makes this happen.”

Chase Elliott is known for avoiding public stances on NASCAR topics, but the eight-time Most Popular Driver concluded a Saturday media availability by volunteering a strong opinion.

With the vote on the NASCAR Hall of Fame Class of 2027 set for May 19, Elliott made an impassioned plea to elect his uncle Ernie Elliott, who built engines for Hall of Famer Bill Elliott, Chase’s father. Ernie Elliott is on the ballot for the first time this year.

“I don’t talk about this stuff a lot, but you don’t have to dig very far into the Elliott racing story to recognize how much of a family effort it was,” Chase Elliott said. “I don’t think the story has the same ending, throughout the course of the 1980s and even leading into my career, without Uncle Ernie and what he meant to all of us. He’s meant a lot to my career. There are a lot of very, very deserving names on the list, but he is one of the very deserving that doesn’t get talked about enough for the credit that he deserves.”

The first May race at Watkins Glen might mark the only time that NASCAR runs the road course in the spring. NASCAR has already announced a September 2027 return to the Glen on a date to be determined. The 2024 race was held Sept. 15, and the other 42 Cup races at Watkins Glen were held in July or August.

NASCAR won’t unveil next year’s schedule for a few more months, but new CEO Steve O’Donnell reaffirmed on the Fox prerace show that Homestead-Miami Speedway, which will take over from Phoenix Raceway as this season’s finale, likely will be the final race in 2027.

The All-Star Race will make its debut May 17 at Dover Motor Speedway. Christopher Bell is the defending winner of the exhibition event, which was held the past three years at North Wilkesboro (N.C.) Speedway.

AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing

Shane Van Gisbergen drives during a NASCAR Cup Series auto race Sunday, May 10, 2026, in Watkins Glen, N.Y. (Photo/Adrian Kraus)

Shane Van Gisbergen, center, celebrates with his team after winning a NASCAR Cup Series auto race, Sunday, May 10, 2026, in Watkins Glen, N.Y. (Photo/Adrian Kraus)

Shane Van Gisbergen does a burn out after winning a NASCAR Cup Series auto race, Sunday, May 10, 2026, in Watkins Glen, N.Y. (Photo/Adrian Kraus)

Shane Van Gisbergen celebrates after winning a NASCAR Cup Series auto race, Sunday, May 10, 2026, in Watkins Glen, N.Y. (Photo/Adrian Kraus)

Shane Van Gisbergen (97) is introduced before a NASCAR Cup Series auto race Sunday, May 10, 2026, in Watkins Glen, N.Y. (Photo/Adrian Kraus)