It’s often said that it’s not about how you start, but how you finish. The New York Knicks, however, let another sterling start do the talking as their Eastern Conference semifinal series against the Philadelphia 76ers tipped off on Monday night.

The Knicks took a double-figure lead in the second quarter and never looked back, keeping their well-rounded forward momentum rolling with a 137-98 shellacking of the Sixers.

Jalen Brunson set an early tone with by scoring 14 of his 35 points over the first dozen to help the Knicks create an impenetrable advantage. It was part of brilliant bookends to the first half: Brunson was responsible for every tally of an 11-4 run over the final 1:49 of the half, closing things out with a literal last-second three that established a 23-point lead.

OG Anunoby was nearly perfect (7-of-8) on an 18-point night while Mikal Bridges and Karl-Anthony Towns had 17 each on a night where Knick starters hit two-thirds of their tries from the field. None of them were on the floor during the fourth quarter, which saw the Knicks’ deeper widen the already-massive gap further (eventually summitting at 40).

Brunson was forced to take on an early scoring load when big men Towns and Mitchell Robinson each landed in early foul trouble. Towns also endured a scary fall while going for a first quarter rebound but proved to be none worse for the wear.

That proved to be no issue for the Knicks captain, who stands as the leading scorer in first period scoring among playoff participants with at least two appearances.

He offered foreshadowing of his pre-halftime dominance with a similar showing in the latter half of the first: when Philadelphia took what became its largest lead of three just before the midway mark of the period, Brunson played a role in each of the Knicks’ next 14 points, scoring eight of his own while sandwiching that stretch with an alley-oop toss to Robinson and and a three for Miles McBride, which led to a Philadelphia timeout.

The 76ers kept somewhat of an early pace thanks to excessive foul shooting (14-of-14 in the first half, all but one single coming from the arms of either Joel Embiid or Tyrese Maxey).

But the Knicks rediscovered their rhythm once Anunoby and a rejuvenated Towns began to set the table for Brunson’s closeout mastery. The Knicks then got to work closing off hope at the top of the second half, as a Bridges breakout got the lead up to a third decade before Philadelphia knew what hit it.

With the win, the Knicks have posted a scoring margin on plus-135 in their last four games. That sets a new NBA playoff record for a quartet, passing the prior tally of plus-122 set by last year’s Cleveland Cavaliers. New York also becomes the first team in NBA history to win three consecutive games by a margin of at least 25 points.

Monday’s loss went down as the second-worst defeat in 76ers playoff history, behind only a 40-point to Boston in the 1982 conference final’s opener. Paul George led the way with 17 points that were far from enough to make up for shooting woes from headlining duology of Embiid and Maxey, who hit but three shots each in defeat.

Game 2 of the series is scheduled for Wednesday night back at the Garden (7 p.m. ET, ESPN).