For the Knicks every game is important.
But the next four games are non-negotiable for a team fancying itself a deep playoff contender.
The Knicks return home from a four-game road trip with a 3-1 record, but Thursday’s loss to the Denver Nuggets — coupled with an Orlando Magic victory over the New Orleans Pelicans — moved the Knicks from fourth to fifth place in the Eastern Conference playoff picture.
New York’s last three games were against Western Conference playoff contenders. The next four on the docket are against teams headed to the draft lottery.
And while the Knicks respect every opponent — good or bad — there is no room for blunders against four straight opponents with nothing left to play for but ping pong balls this season.
Beginning with a Brooklyn Nets team four-and-a-half games out of the East’s 10th seed, the Knicks — shorthanded and all — must handle business to secure their standing as an outright playoff team.
STANDINGS CHECK
As of Friday morning, the Knicks (41-28) own the East’s No. 5 seed outright. They are:
- 3.5 games behind the No. 2 Milwaukee Bucks
- Two games behind the No. 3 Cleveland Cavaliers
- A half-game behind the fourth-place Magic
- 2.5 games ahead of the No. 6 Indiana Pacers
- And three games ahead of both the seventh-place Miami Heat and eighth place Philadelphia 76ers
The Knicks have the 10th easiest remaining schedule, according to Positive Residual’s NBA calendar, and the eighth-lightest slate of games, per NBA Draft Lottery projection site Tankathon.
For reference, No. 3 Milwaukee owns the fifth-toughest remaining schedule, No. 4 Orlando and No. 6 Indiana own the 13th and 14th most difficult schedules, the Miami Heat own the fourth-lightest schedule, and both the No. 3 Cavaliers and No. 8 76ers rank 19th and 20th in strength of remaining schedule.
WHO ARE THE KNICKS PLAYING …
The Knicks host the 11th-seeded Nets in a 1 p.m. tipoff at Madison Square Garden on Saturday. The Knicks will be favored against a reeling Brooklyn team, but head coach Tom Thibodeau warned about the challenge of a cross-country flight coupled with an early start.
“This game ends and then you’re challenged in a different way getting back and we’ve got an early start next game against Brooklyn,” Thibodeau said after Thursday’s loss in Denver. “But just keep focusing on one day at a time. Put everything you have into it, get a look at the game today, fix our mistakes, get ready for the next one. “
Two days later, the Knicks host the Detroit Pistons, who currently own the second-worst record in the NBA behind only the Washington Wizards.
The Knicks then fly up north to face the Toronto Raptors, who are 2.5 games worse than the Nets and have lost nine of their last 10 games.
The trip to Canada will be a trip down memory lane facing both Immanuel Quickley and RJ Barrett, the players the Knicks traded to the Raptors for OG Anunoby and Precious Achiuwa.
The four-game stretch concludes with a trip to San Antonio against Rookie of the Year frontrunner Victor Wembanyama’s Spurs.
The 7-4 Wembanyama is averaging 20 points, 10 rebounds and 3.5 blocks per game in first season, but the Knicks should be heavily favored against a 15-54 Spurs team at the bottom of the Western Conference standings.
That’s a 76-201 combined record shared by the Knicks’ next four opponents. For reference, the Knicks own a 21-2 record against teams not currently positioned as Play-In Tournament teams or better this season.
WHAT ABOUT THE COMPETITION?
The No. 2 Bucks have three tough opponents up on the docket: hosting MVP candidate Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the West’s No. 1-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder then Lebron James’ Los Angeles Lakers, followed by a date with the No. 5 New Orleans Pelicans before a stop in Atlanta against the Play-In Tournament-bound 10th-seed Hawks.
The No. 3 Cavaliers have two tough upcoming road games: first at Minnesota against Anthony Edwards and the West’s No. 3 Timberwolves, then out to Miami for a matchup with the No. 7 Heat. Cleveland, however, then has back-to-back matchups against the 17-win Charlotte Hornets.
The fourth-seeded Magic enjoy a five-game home stand starting with three Western Conference contenders in the Sacramento Kings, Golden State Warriors and Los Angeles Clippers. They then play two lottery-bound teams: the Portland Trail Blazers and Memphis Grizzlies.
No. 6 Indiana faces a daunting task: a four-game road trip featuring pit stops in San Francisco against Stephen Curry’s Warriors and Los Angeles for matchups against both the Lakers and Clippers before a trip to Chicago for a game against the No. 9 Bulls.
The No. 7 Heat have a four-game home stand on the docket with matchups against the Pelicans, the No. 3 Cavaliers and the Warriors before hosting the Blazers.
And the Joel Embiid-less 76ers lost to the Phoenix Suns in their first stop of a four-game road trip. They face the Lakers, Clippers, Kings, Clippers and Cavaliers next on the schedule. The toughest four-game stretch of any team clustered between seeds Nos. 2 and 8 in the East.
WHAT ARE SOME POSSIBLE SCENARIOS?
If the Knicks win all four and the Cavaliers — without Donovan Mitchell — split their next four, 2-2, both teams will be tied with 45-28 records and nine games remaining on the schedule.
The Knicks won the season series against the Cavaliers, 2-1, and thus will finish with the higher seed in the event of a tie.
If the Bucks split their next four games, two apiece, they will own a 47-27 record with eight games left on the schedule. Under this scenario, the No. 2 seed would be in play for the Knicks.
If the Magic lose three in a row to Western Conference playoff contenders (Sacramento, Golden State, Los Angeles Clippers) and win against the Trail Blazers, they will own a 43-31 record. The Knicks would own the No. 4 seed outright — at minimum — in this scenario depending on how the Cavaliers and Bucks fair over their next four games.
If the Heat flip the switch and win four in a row, they will sit with a 42-31 record, which would put the East’s No. 5 seed in play for Miami. A No. 4 vs. No. 5 first-round matchup between the Knicks and Heat is viewed as a worst-case scenario given the Heat eliminated the Knicks in the second round of the playoffs last season.
If the playoffs began Friday, the Knicks would finish without home-court advantage drawing a first-round matchup against the Magic. Orlando is 3-1 against New York this season, but the Knicks won the season series finale by 24 and held the Magic to only 74 points.
HOW HAVE THE KNICKS PLAYED ENTERING THIS STRETCH?
The Knicks lost to the Nuggets but won six of their eight games prior to Thursday night. They own the second-best defensive rating in basketball since the Dec. 31 trade for Anunoby despite Anunoby missing significant time after undergoing elbow surgery in early February.
In fact, the Knicks remain above-.500 with a 12-11 record since both Anunoby and Randle left the rotation after a Jan. 27 victory over the Miami Heat.
The Knicks beat the Warriors, 119-112, despite Anunoby missing the game for maintenance on his surgically-repaired elbow.
They are 15-2 in games Anunoby has played this season.