PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart and the New York Knicks are back in the Eastern Conference finals, tying the NBA postseason record with 25 3-pointers in front of a raucous crowd rooting for the road team and rolling past the Philadelphia 76ers, 144-114, on Sunday, May 10, to sweep the second-round series.

Deuce McBride started in place of the injured OG Anunoby and hit seven 3-pointers, going 4 for 4 in the first quarter when the Knicks had another record with 11, and scored 25 points. Brunson had 22 points and Hart and Karl-Anthony Towns each scored 17 in the Knicks' latest lopsided playoff victory.

The Knicks' 19.4 point-per-game margin of victory is the largest through two rounds since the playoffs went to 16 teams in 1984.

“It's just us being very locked in to the moment,” Towns said.

The Knicks advanced to the East finals for the second straight season and will play the winner of the Cleveland-Detroit series. The Pistons lead 2-1.

The Knicks last season reached the conference finals for the first time in 25 years before losing to Indiana. The Knicks then fired coach Tom Thibodeau and replaced him with Mike Brown, who has guided them to seven straight playoff wins, starting with the last three games against Atlanta.

“Our guys tried to take it to another level with their focus on the details and their energy and effort level,” Brown said. “That's a lot of the reason why we're playing pretty good basketball.”

Knicks fans made a habit of scooping up tickets by the thousands at the Sixers' arena for playoffs games over the years, and in Game 4, they may have made the loudest statement yet. They raised brooms outside the arena and waved “Always Knicks” towels once inside, all while noisily neutering the few Sixers fans that didn't make a few extra bucks on the secondary market and stuck around.

The 76ers' franchise failed to stop Knicks fans in their effort to buy tickets.

The 76ers were greater failures in trying to stop the Knicks on the floor.

Game 4 was a laugher from the tip, with the Knicks using the 3-point arc as a starting point for their personal pop-a-shot game.

With Knicks fans on their feet and exclaiming “Deuuuce," McBride hit one, two, three, four — four! — 3-pointers in succession for a 20-6 lead and the Sixers were already on their heels. McBride became the first Knick (since play-by-play tracking began in 1997) to hit four 3s in the first quarter of a playoff game.

New York's 3-point records were just heating up.

Brunson added two in the period (six total) to help make the Knicks 11 of 13, which tied the NBA mark for most makes in a quarter.

The Knicks totaled 18 3s in the first half to score 54 points off the long ball, compared to 57 total for the 76ers. Overall, that was an 81-57 lead and helped power the Knicks toward their first best-of-seven series sweep since the 1999 East semis against Atlanta.

The Knicks scored 80-plus points in the first half twice in five road playoff games this season.

The second half was a mere formality, and the Sixers are headed home after a gutsy 3-1 series comeback to beat Boston in the first round.

“The energy was a big gap between their energy and our energy, I thought," Sixers coach Nick Nurse said.

Joel Embiid ended another injury-riddled season with 24 points, Tyrese Maxey had 17 and the Sixers still have not advanced out of the second round since 2001.

“I came into this year not knowing where I was going to be (with health), how long I was going to play, if I was even going to play based on how the knee was the last few years,” Embiid said. “I came in just hoping for the best and I feel like we're in a position where we figured out the knee. It hasn't been an issue.”

Towns had 10 assists. Hart hit four 3-pointers and celebrated by stripping off his jersey and tossing it to a woman in Sixers gear.

“My right hand remembered that the goal was to make 3s,” Hart said. “Happy to have her back.”

If the sweep and the Knicks' fan takeover didn't saddle the Sixers with enough bad news, there was one final cutting blow to the ego — Philadelphia's two first-round 2018 draft picks are still playing: Mikal Bridges and Landry Shamet, of course, for the Knicks.

Anthony Edwards had 16 of his 36 points in the fourth quarter to help the Minnesota Timberwolves even their second-round NBA playoff series against the San Antonio Spurs with a 114-109 victory, following the stunning ejection of star Victor Wembanyama early in the second quarter of Game 4.

Naz Reid took the fateful elbow to the neck from a frustrated Wembanyama and finished with 15 points and nine rebounds to help the Timberwolves finish strong after some shaky stretches.

“Pain is weakness in the body,” Reid said. “That’s it.”

Edwards hit a 27-footer to bring the Wolves within 94-91, turning to shout at the crowd for some help down the stretch as the Spurs. His catch-and-shoot 3-pointer from the wing with 5:12 left put them up 98-97, their first lead since midway through the third quarter.

Then the big men went to work without Wembanyama patrolling the paint. Rudy Gobert, who had 11 points and 13 rebounds, converted a three-point play with 3:02 left off a high-low feed from Reid and later threw down a dunk for a 107-101 lead with 1:56 to go after a slick pass from Julius Randle.

Reid’s follow shot with 40 seconds left gave the Wolves a seven-point lead, before Dylan Harper had a rebound, a drawn foul, a steal, and two free throws to help the Spurs pull within three.

After managing to corral a full-court baseball toss from inbound passer Jaden McDaniels as De'Aaron Fox undercut his leaping catch and caused a loose ball, Ayo Dosunmu drew a foul and sank two free throws with 9.8 seconds left to put the game out of reach and tie the series at two games apiece.

San Antonio hosts Game 5 on Tuesday, with Wembanyama’s status to be determined by the league following the Flagrant 2 foul call and automatic ejection he was levied for the excessive contact to Reid.