Miles McBride ripped Philadelphia apart on Sunday afternoon, drilling four three-pointers in 81 seconds as the New York Knicks beat the 76ers 144 to 114 at Xfinity Mobile Arena to complete a 4 to 0 Eastern Conference semi-final sweep and move within one series of the NBA Finals.

The Knicks had already been on a roll. They arrived in Philadelphia on the back of six straight playoff wins and abruising first‑round series against the Atlanta Hawksthat had quietly changed the course of their season.

Back on 23 April in Atlanta, McBride said New York were 'punched in the mouth' in Game 3. Rather than folding, the group treated it as a line in the sand, tweaking their offence and, more importantly in McBride's view, resetting their mindset.

'I feel like our mindset shifted,' McBride told SNY. 'We know we're the better team (but) we can't just come out there and expect to win, because they're talented too. So I feel like our mindset just shifted totally to "take the game" instead of (waiting for) them to give us the game.'

With OG Anunoby again sidelined by a right hamstring strain, coach Mike Brown kept faith with Miles McBride in the starting line‑up after a quiet Game 3 in which he managed just three points and missed four of five shots from deep.

Brown's explanation was simple enough. 'He's just tough‑minded,' the coach said. 'In order to have success in anything you do in life you need to have a short memory, and he definitely has a short memory.'

From the opening tip, the Miles McBride who had misfired 48 hours earlier was nowhere to be seen. He found his rhythm immediately, sparking a personal 9–0 run that blew open a double‑digit lead and had 'DEEUUCCEE' chants rolling around an arena that felt, at times, more Manhattan than Philadelphia.

The Knicks as a whole rode that wave. They hit an extraordinary 11 of 13 three‑point attempts in the first quarter, tying an NBA record for any playoff period.

Karl‑Anthony Towns, who has been reinvented in this run as a passing hub, summed it up neatly. 'The start of the game was the Deuce McBride show,' he said. 'He went out and hit some big shots and gave us momentum – we talked about how we wanted to start fast and Deuce allowed us to do that.'

McBride did not let up. He buried his fifth three early in the second quarter before finally missing, then added two free throws and a sixth triple to reach 20 points by half‑time, leading all scorers. With the contest long since over as a spectacle, he added another three and trips to the line in the third before Brown emptied the bench.

Source: International Business Times UK