Jalen Brunson, Knicks strike first (and often) against 76ers: Game 1 takeaways

Atlantic76ersCelticsKnicksNetsRaptorsCentralBucksBullsCavaliersPacersPistonsSoutheastHawksHeatHornetsMagicWizardsSouthwestGrizzliesMavericksPelicansRocketsSpursNorthwestJazzNuggetsThunderTimberwolvesTrail BlazersPacificClippersKingsLakersSunsWarriorsScores & ScheduleStandingsThe Bounce NewsletterNBA DraftPodcastsFantasyNBA OddsNBA PicksLatest Mock DraftWhat Makes Up Championship DNA?Player Poll: Who is the MVP?Player Poll: Who Will Win Title?NBA Playoffs The Knicks rolled to victory in Game 1 thanks to offense from Jalen Brunson and some solid team defense. Al Bello / Getty Images Share article3Jalen Brunson and the New York Knicks handled business early and cruised to a 137-98 blowout of the Philadelphia 76ers in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference semifinals series Monday night at Madison Square Garden. Brunson scored a game-high 35 points to lead four Knicks in double-digit scoring on a night it seemed like they couldn’t miss. New York built a 23-point halftime advantage and led by as many as 40 points. The Knicks shot a playoff franchise record 63.1 percent from the field and became the first team in NBA playoff history to win three straight playoff games by 25 or more points. The Sixers, only two days removed from completing a 3-1 series comeback with a grueling Game 7 road win against the Boston Celtics, shot just 41 percent. Stars Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey combined for just 27 points on 6-for-20 shooting. Here are some takeaways with Game 2 set for Wednesday night in New York. If Mikal Bridges is going to play like this, New York might be done with this series by the weekend. The often-criticized wing, who was benched twice in the second halves in the first round series against Atlanta, was outstanding in the Knicks’ Game 1 beatdown with his defense and efficient shot-making. Coming into the series, the primary question for New York was how it would slow down Maxey. Bridges got the assignment and made life difficult for the All-Star guard. Bridges stayed tight while chasing him around screens, used his length to disrupt the passing lanes and stayed attached to his hip when he had the ball. On offense, Bridges knocked down his spot-up jumpers and was even used as a ballhandler to facilitate offense. He finished the night with 17 points on 7-of-10 shooting. If Bridges can disrupt Maxey to this degree — Maxey had just 13 points on 3-of-9 shooting and four turnovers. — it’s hard to see how the 76ers have a chance. Furthermore, with the way Brunson, OG Anunoby and Karl-Anthony Towns are scoring, Bridges getting into double-digits every night is going to make New York nearly impossible to guard. This is the Bridges New York traded five first-round picks for — efficient on offense and disruptive on defense. — James L. Edwards III, Knicks beat writer  There’s this concept basketball statisticians throw around, variance. Every once in a while, a trend will deviate from its norm, but as time goes on, that trend will regress to its mean. Basketball people have taken to calling hot shooting nights “variance” games — aka ones that, if you simulated them out 100 times, would not formulate the real-life results nearly as often as they would other, more likely outcomes. Of late, the Knicks are the kings of variance games. They are shooting 60 percent from the field over their past three games, which dates back to Game 5 of their first-round series against the Hawks. They have sunk 43 percent of their 3-pointers during that time. Monday produced their hottest night. Their effective field-goal percentage of 75 against the 76ers made for the fourth-best shooting performance in any game this season, regular season or playoffs. That’s 2,556 games played. And this one was fourth. Yes, this is variance. The Knicks have won these three games by a combined 119 points. But in a seven-game series, a variance game or two can be the difference between moving on to the second round and going home. The Knicks won’t keep up this shooting for the next month and a half, but that they’re even capable of it for a trio of consecutive playoff games places them in a tier not many can approach. — Fred Katz, senior NBA writer  The 76ers are going to have to do something to keep Embiid out of the line of fire defensively. In Game 1, the Knicks put Embiid into pick-and-roll on every possession, and Embiid’s limited mobility didn’t allow him to help and recover in time on Towns. A big change in this series is that Boston didn’t have offensive personnel to draw Embiid out of the paint and make him work. One of the reasons Embiid was so effective offensively is that he didn’t have to work as hard defensively. If Game 1 of this series says anything, it’s that it will clearly be a different challenge for Embiid, who didn’t move well for much of Monday night. Instead of having to guard centers who aren’t a threat offensively, Embiid has been put in a position to have to contain Brunson off the dribble but also have to recover on Towns. There were way too many possessions where he wasn’t able to do that on Monday, and it’s one of the reasons the 76ers as a whole played one of their worst defensive halves of basketball in a long while. Finding ways to combat this going forward is going to be a real challenge for the 76ers. — Tony Jones, Sixers beat writer It’s hard to write up a list of what went wrong for the 76ers on Monday. It would take too long. In short, the answer is everything. Philadelphia will have to clean up so much ahead of Game 2. But a few things top the list. The 76ers will need to find a way to open up the floor for Maxey on offense. He was mostly quiet in Game 1, and he never developed a flow to try to punish the Knicks at the rim. The Sixers will also need to limit their turnovers. They had 19 in Game 1, but so many seemed to be live-ball turnovers, which the Knicks turned into points in transition. It’s tough to hang if the offense is broken and the other team is getting easy buckets off your mistakes. The Knicks defense was very good at bottling up the 76ers, especially flummoxing Embiid as they sent delayed double-teams and crossed him up at times. About the only thing that went well in Game 1 was the proficiency with which Embiid drew fouls on the Knicks in the first quarter. Otherwise, it’s back to the drawing board for Nick Nurse and company. — Mike Vorkunov, national writer Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms