The Philadelphia 76ers did not truly enjoy home-court advantage in Games 3 and 4 against the New York Knicks, as Knicks fans flooded the Xfinity Mobile Arena in Philadelphia in droves. After his season ended on Sunday, All-Star guard Tyrese Maxey expressed frustration with Knicks fans taking over his home arena.
“It absolutely sucks, if I’m being honest. It just sucks,” Maxey said of hundreds, if not thousands, of Knicks fans invading the 76ers’ home arena.
“That’s really all I can say about it, man. It’s hard. It’s definitely difficult. It’s only one way to put a stop to it and it’s, we have to go out there and win these games.
“Just being completely honest, we were better when we played them in the Garden this entire season. I know we lost Game 2 and 1, but Game 2 was better. The regular season was better. I was telling them, it felt louder here for them than it did in the Garden.”
Tyrese Maxey Addresses Knicks Fans
Maxey urged the 76ers fanbase to “put a stop” to Knicks fans taking over their home games. He realizes the best way to do that is to win games and silence the Knicks fans.
“We got to put a stop to it as a team,” he urged his fellow teammates.
“Winning these games, that’s gonna make our fans louder than theirs or whatever. I don’t know how to keep them out. I don’t know the logistics of it, but it does suck. I can’t even lie. It definitely does suck.”
At the start of the series, 76ers star Joel Embiid expressed concerns about Knicks fans taking over his team’s home games, as he made a plea to the Sixers fans.
“Don’t sell your tickets,” Embiid said. “This is bigger than you. We need you guys.”
Knicks Advance to East Finals
In fairness to the Sixers fans, the Knicks would have likely swept Tyrese Maxey and Co. regardless of the atmosphere in Games 3 and 4. The Knicks are playing arguably the best basketball of any team in the playoffs, as they notched up their seventh consecutive win with a 144-114 blowout win in Game 4 on Sunday.
In the process, the Knicks became the fourth team ever to close out two series by 30+ points, following their 51-point Game 6 win over the Atlanta Hawks in the first round.
Per ESPN Insights: “The Knicks are the 4th team in NBA history with multiple 30-point series-clinching wins in a single postseason. They join the 2025 Thunder, 2008 Celtics, and 1987 Lakers. All 3 of those teams went on to win the NBA title.”
During their ongoing seven-game winning streak, the Knicks have decimated their opponents by an average margin of 26.4 points, while shooting 54.8% from the field and 43.2% from three. They’ve averaged an NBA-best 125.3 points during this stretch.
Jalen Brunson said his team wasn’t in a celebratory mood despite sweeping the Sixers.
“I didn’t say [it was] celebratory,” Brunson said, via ESPN’s Vincent Goodwill.
“I think for the most part, we’re focused, and we have to continue to have that focus, the attention to detail, the edge that we have to have is really important.”
Knicks will face either the Detroit Pistons or the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference Finals starting around May 17-18. They are four wins away from ending their 26-year NBA Finals drought.
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