The New York Knicks (52-28) gave themselves a mathematical chance to pass the Boston Celtics (54-26) for the No. 2 seed after beating their Atlantic Division rivals, 112-106, on Thursday night.
Since the Knicks won the season series 3-1 over the Celtics, they own the tiebreaker and will finish higher in the standings if the two teams finish with identical records (54-28) at the end of the regular season on Sunday. ClutchPoints’ Brett Siegel laid out the scenario that would propel the Knicks above the Celtics in the coming days.
“If the Knicks win their final two games against Toronto & Charlotte, and the Celtics lose their final two games against New Orleans & Orlando, then New York will win the Atlantic Division and the 2-seed in the Eastern Conference,” Siegel wrote.
“You never know.”
You never know.
Knicks Won’t Rest Players
The win on Thursday was extremely crucial for the Knicks, given that the Cleveland Cavaliers (51-29) are on a four-game winning streak of their own and are on their heels for the third seed. However, with Thursday’s win, the Knicks maintained a 1.0-game cushion over the Cavs, to go with a series tiebreaker (2-1). As such, the Knicks are now almost guaranteed to finish as a top-three seed unless they lose their final two games.
After Thursday’s win, Knicks head coach Mike Brown made it clear that the seeding scenarios mattered to his team, as detailed by The Athletic’s James L. Edwards III.
“New York head coach Mike Brown said his team will “run through the finish line” — meaning it doesn’t intend to sit players — as long as it can move up in the standings or has the potential to fall. That’s the right approach,” wrote Edwards.
“First, the Knicks have been searching for some semblance of consistency against good teams lately, and I’d be hesitant to ruin that just for seeding purposes. Also, the Basketball Gods are always watching — don’t try to manipulate games for a worse seeding even if you think it provides a better matchup.”
Knicks vs. Celtics Playoffs Rematch?
If the Knicks can clinch the second seed by Sunday, they’d have home-court advantage over the Celtics in a possible playoff semifinal rematch from last year. Celtics star Jaylen Brown recently spoke about his team wanting to exact revenge on the Knicks after they blew two 20-point leads last year en route to a 2-4 series loss.
“It felt like death,” Brown said on his Twitch stream of losing to the Knicks in last year’s playoffs. “The Knicks, good team. But to blow two 20-point leads, like how does that happen?” Brown pondered. “The energy was off, and we lost, but shout out to the Knicks. They won. They moved on. We lost. We did it to ourselves. Can’t be mad at it.
“But this story’s a different year,” Brown added. “We might match up with the Knicks again, and we’ve got to be ready to slide. We’ve got our young killers right here. Sometimes, you’ve got to spin the block. You’ve got to run it back.”
The Knicks will know by Friday night whether the second seed is still attainable when they host the Toronto Raptors and the Celtics host the New Orleans Pelicans. Elsewhere, the Cavs will face the Hawks on the road in another critical matchup.
How Knicks Can Clinch No. 2 Seed From Celtics After Thursday’s Win