The New York Knicks dominated Game 6 against the Boston Celtics, avoided the pressure of a Game 7 on the road and reached the Eastern Conference finals for the first time in 25 years.
The Knicks eliminated the Celtics 119-81 in Game 6 on Friday night.
Karl-Anthony Towns led the Knicks with 21 points and 12 rebounds, Jalen Brunson had 23 points, six assists and six rebounds and Josh Hart recorded a 10-points, 11-assists, 11-rebounds triple-double in a game filled with statistical oddities.
The third-seeded Knicks will play the fourth-seeded Indiana Pacers in the conference finals – the Knicks haven’t been to the NBA Finals since 1999 and the Pacers haven’t been since 2000.
Game 1 is Wednesday in New York (8 p.m. ET, TNT).
Let’s take a look at some of the wild stats and numbers surrounding Game 6:
Wild stats from Game 6 of Celtics vs. Knicks
This Knicks reached the conference finals for the first time since 2000. Entering the game, they had the league’s third-longest streak of not making it to conference finals – behind Charlotte (never have been) and Washington (1979 was the last time the Wizards made it that far).
Brunson was just 3 years old the last time the Knicks got this far, and his dad, Knicks assistant coach Rick Brunson, was on that 2000 team.
The quirky X feed called NBA Scorigami noted that the 119-81 result was the 3,168th unique score in NBA history and the 23rd this season.
The Celtics trailed by 41 points – 92- 51 – late in the third quarter, and they had not trailed by more than 12 points in a game during this season’s playoffs until Friday.
The Celtics had lost just three games this season by 20 or more points – the largest margin of defeat was 21 points.
The margin equaled the third-largest points differential defeat in Celtics playoff history.
Boston scored 37 points in the first half which was a season-low, and the 20 first-quarter points and 17 second-quarter points were also season lows in a first and second quarter for the Celtics this season.
New York’s 64 first-half points were the most the Celtics allowed in the first half this season – eclipsing the 59 the Knicks scored in Game 5.
New York’s 27-point halftime lead matched the largest lead after two quarters in Knicks playoff history.
Hart became the the first Knick to register a triple-double in a playoff game since Walt Frazier in 1972. Frazier, a Knicks TV analyst, was sitting courtside to watch Hart’s accomplishment. He’s just the third player in franchise history to have a playoff triple-double (Frazier, Dick McGuire).
This is the ninth time the Knicks and Pacers have met in the playoffs with the Pacers winning five of the series. They met six times from 1993-2000, creating one of the era’s best, most intense rivalries.
Follow NBA reporter Jeff Zillgitt on social media @JeffZillgitt