PHILADELPHIA — The first attempt fell 1:21 after the opening tip.
The next dropped 1:10 later.
On the ensuing possession, Jalen Brunson missed a 3-pointer.
What was special about that, you might ask?
It was a rarity Sunday for these rampaging Knicks, who returned to the Eastern Conference finals with a dominant 144-114 victory at Xfinity Mobile Arena on Mother’s Day.
They made their next nine 3-point attempts, on their way to hitting an incredible 25 from distance, a franchise postseason record that also equaled the all-time NBA mark set by the Bucks (2021) and Cavaliers (2016).
They equaled another NBA playoff record by hitting 11 3s in the first quarter and 18 in the first half, for their seventh straight win of this postseason.
“It’s definitely special. I didn’t even know, honestly,” Miles McBride said, referring to the record-matching 3-point shooting display. “To have anything like that on your name is a legacy you want.”
The brilliant shooting day was somewhat of a surprise, despite how easily the Knicks handled the 76ers in this series.
They entered the contest shooting 38.3 percent from 3-point range in the playoffs, fourth among teams still alive.
They were a strong perimeter shooting team during the regular season, fourth in the league at 37.3 percent.
But they hadn’t lit it up of late.
They were 9-for-27 from 3 in Game 2 and 7-for-26 in Game 3.
But with a chance to advance, the Knicks looked like a team of Splash Brothers, mimicking the Steph Curry and Klay Thompson Warriors.
“Guys were sacrificing good shots for better shots, and when you do that, the ball has energy and we have to knock down shots,” Josh Hart said. “So playing a style like that is fun.”
Miles McBride hit seven 3-pointers.
Brunson dropped in six.
Landry Shamet had four off the bench.
Hart, despite that sprained left thumb, made four.
Pacôme Dadiet tied the record with a 3 in the final minute.
“I mean, it felt great,” Hart said. “My right hand remembered that the goal was to make 3s, so happy to have her back.”
At one point late in the second quarter, the Knicks had made more 3-pointers (14) than the 76ers had field goals (13).
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They led by 27.
For much of the afternoon, they were over 60 percent from 3 — video game numbers.
“Our sprays were tremendous, but the spacing part is what made them really good,” coach Mike Brown said. “We spaced the floor very good and when they committed two to the ball and/or we touched the paint and their defense collapsed, we did a great job of finding the open man and making one more pass without panicking. Guys stepped in and knocked shots down.
“Twenty-five 3s on 44 attempts, if I’m seeing that right, it’s unbelievable and it’s great basketball. But the group that I have in the locker room, they’re more than capable of doing something like that.”
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