Knicks oust 76ers with Game 6 victory, advance to face Pacers in Eastern Conference semifinals

PHILADELPHIA — The easy way for the Knicks would have been to finish off the Philadelphia 76ers Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden. Maybe a simple path would have been to hold on to the 22-point first quarter lead they built up on Thursday night. But when has this team ever done anything the easy way?

Surviving gut checks one after another, injuries that could have derailed their season, and doubters all season long, the Knicks found themselves trailing by double digits in the second half. And they put the ball in Jalen Brunson’s hands as they have all season long and Brunson delivered time after time until the 76ers were determined not to let him do it one more time.

“That’s the thing I love about our team,” Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said. “It’s a team. They’re fighters. They don’t stay down. And I think that’s the biggest part of the mental toughness is always having the ability to believe you can do better.”

So with the score tied and 24.4 seconds left and defenders scrambling around him, Brunson found Josh Hart open at the top of the key. Hart hesitated for a moment before drilling a go-ahead three-pointer, the decisive basket in a game that seemed bound for a return to New York. Instead, it helped the Knicks to a 118-115 Game 6 win at Wells Fargo Center and a trip to the Eastern Conference semifinals for the second year in a row.

The Knicks host the Pacers in Game 1 Monday night at Madison Square Garden.

Unlike Game 5 when they squandered a lead, there were no mistakes — just one bit of execution mustered after another, efficiently, methodically, while seemingly fighting for their lives. After a Philadelphia bucket, Donte DiVincenzo pushed the lead to three with a pair of free throws with 11.1 seconds remaining. And this time, the Knicks took no chances on a last-second miracle, fouling Tyrese Maxey with 10.1 seconds left. He hit both free throws before Brunson was fouled with 7.7 seconds left. He converted both and the Knicks fouled again before a last-second misfire by Buddy Hield.

As exhausted as the Knicks were, the celebration was on.

Brunson led the Knicks again with 41 points and 12 assists — his third straight game of at least 40 points in the series, just the second Knicks player and the seventh player in NBA history to achieve that in the postseason. Joel Embiid had 39 points for the 76ers.

“No matter what the situation is we’re going to attack it,” Brunson said. “I just think that no matter who’s in front of us or whatever we’re going to go out there, play our style of basketball. We’re going to grind. We’re going to respect our opponent. We’re going to know it’s always going to be a difficult situation no matter who you’re playing in this league. So going into this we knew it was going to be a grind and we just found ways to win — and found ways to lose, too.

“It’s always going to be something we’re going to continue to learn every single time we’re on the court. So it doesn’t really matter the situation or the team. We just know every situation is different and we need to approach it with the same mentality.”

With 53.6 seconds left and another lead seemingly in danger of slipping away, Brunson maneuvered into the lane, dropping in a shot for a three-point lead. But just like Game 5, a missed free throw that could have pushed the lead to four bounded off the rim.

Maxey then burst to the rim and threw up a layup that Isaiah Hartenstein blocked, but just a sliver after it touched the glass for a goaltending violation — and he fouled Maxey on the play. With 34.9 seconds left, Maxey tied the score.

“I’ve decided nothing matters,” 76ers coach Nick Nurse said before the game. “They kill us on the glass, it goes down to the buzzer. We kill them on the glass, it goes down to the buzzer. Joel scores 50, it goes down to the buzzer. Brunson scores 47, it goes down to the buzzer.”

So this one would, too, despite the Knicks building a 22-point lead midway through the first quarter, seeing it disappear and trailing at halftime, and then falling behind by 10 in the third quarter.

DiVincenzo took on the assignment of stifling Maxey for the first time in the series and not only did that, but poured in 23 points, including five threes. Mitchell Robinson slowed Embiid, who had 33 points in the first three quarters. And they survived an unexpected outburst from Hield, who had scored just two points in the first five games and exploded for 17 first-half points.

“They’re a really good team,” DiVincenzo said. “They have really good players and they’re really well coached . . . They’re not a normal seven seed. Going into the first round we knew it was going to be an uphill battle. There was back and forth between the teams in terms of the media and stuff, you knew it was heightened.

“But you know, the thing about this group, no matter what, the adversity, we’ve had it all year long. Our front court has been been out for almost half the year. Everybody says we’re too small. You outwork, you stay together and this is what happens.”

By Steve Popper

steve.popper@newsday.com@StevePopper

Steve Popper covers the Knicks for Newsday. He has spent nearly three decades covering the Knicks and the NBA, along with just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.