The wildest numbers of the Knicks' 51-point beatdown of the Hawks in Game 6

3 weeks ago 7

That probably wasn’t the kind of history the Atlanta Hawks wanted to make on Thursday.

As the buzzer sounded to end the first half, the Hawks found themselves down 83-36 to the New York Knicks in an elimination game. That’s not just a beatdown, it’s the largest halftime lead in the history of the NBA playoffs at 47 points.

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The second half was better, but not enough to make the game close to competitive in a 140-89 Knicks win. The Hawks’ season is over after a six-game loss in the first round, and what a way to go out.

Here’s every other bizarre number from a beatdown that had to be seen to be believed:

51

That was the Knicks’ largest lead of the first half. If that margin held up to halftime, it would have been the largest halftime lead in NBA history, regular season or postseason. The current record-holder is 50 points, held by the Dallas Mavericks in 2020.

61

A quick Knicks run to open the third quarter expanded the lead to 61 points at 101-40. That is the largest lead any team has ever held in an NBA playoff game.

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60-19

There were plenty of ridiculous scores in that first half — 48-15, 72-22, 83-35 — but the most absurd was 60-19. That’s pretty much the same score that led to the scoreboard displaying “Kinda One Sided Isn’t It” in Space Jam.

10

The Haws committed eight turnovers in the first quarter, then two more in the first minute of the second quarter. That’s 10 turnovers in the span of 13 minutes.

37,964

-17

Bench forward Mouhamed Gueye had a plus/minus of minus-17 in the first half. That is normally bad. In the context of the Hawks, it was the best mark of any player who saw more than five minutes. The worst: Jonathan Kuminga at minus-40 in 12 minutes.

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3

Hawks guard Dyson Daniels was ejected in the second quarter after getting into it with Knicks big man Mitchell Robinson, leaving the game with 3 points on 1-of-4 shooting in 15 minutes. He can at least say he showed more fight than his teammates.

9:44

The Hawks pulled Jalen Johnson, CJ McCollum and Nickeil Alexander-Walker — three of their four remaining starters — with 9:44 remaining in the game. A playoff game.

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