Knicks top-3 playoff seeding in jeopardy with 9th toughest schedule to close season
The Knicks are not safe as a top-three seed in the Eastern Conference. In fact, they’re closer to falling behind the Cleveland Cavaliers as the fourth seed than they are to catching Boston for second in the East. And with just five games left in their regular-season schedule before the top-six playoff seeds of each conference lock-in, the Knicks have the ninth-toughest remaining schedule in all of basketball.
They hosted the Chicago Bulls at Madison Square Garden on Friday; will enjoy two days of rest before the visiting Atlanta Hawks in a playoff preview at State Farm Arena on April 6; will see two more days of rest before a home back-to-back against a pair of potential playoff matchups in the Boston Celtics and the Toronto Raptors; then play their season finale at The Garden against the Charlotte Hornets, who beat the Knicks on March 6 , 114-103, to spur a three-game losing streak. The Knicks, who are egregiously seven games behind the No. 1-seeded Detroit Pistons, are 2.
5 games behind the Celtics for No. 2 and just one game ahead of the fourth-place Cavaliers. The Cavaliers have the easiest remaining schedule in all of basketball, with two matchups against the Hawks, one game apiece against the tanking Indiana Pacers and Memphis Grizzlies, and a season finale against the dumpster-fire Washington Wizards on the slate.
The Celtics rank dead-center, 15th, in remaining strength of schedule. Boston will play four playoff teams (Knicks, Raptors, Hornets, Magic) and two tanking teams (Pelicans, Bucks) before the regular season ends. Which puts the Knicks in a bind.
Because even if the Knicks lose their April 9 matchup against the Celtics, they’ll still hold the tiebreaker via divisional record should the two teams finish the season with identical win-loss columns. For that to happen, however, the Knicks would need to win four of their final games — not impossible, but improbable — and the Celtics, winners of eight of their last 10 games, would need to lose four of their final six. That’s just to catch No.
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