The New York Knicks (53-28) clinched the third seed with a 112-95 win over the Toronto Raptors on Friday night.
Mike Brown’s team was in danger of losing the third seed to a Cleveland Cavaliers team that entered Friday’s game against the Atlanta Hawks on a four-game winning streak. However, with the Cavs losing, the Knicks are now mathematically locked into the third seed — regardless of the outcome of Sunday’s game, as Ian Begley explained.
“Knicks will be the No. 3 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs,” Begley wrote on X.
“Their first-round opponent is up in the air entering Sunday. If Hawks lose and Raptors win Sunday, NYK will play No. 6 seed ATL in 1st rnd. Raptors will enter final game of season one game behind Hawks. They own tie-breaker over Atlanta. Hawks end season against Miami. Toronto finishes season at Brooklyn.
“If Hawks beat Miami on Sunday, Knicks will play Toronto in first round. If TOR loses and ORL wins its final game, Knicks will face the Magic in the first round.”
Knicks Playoffs Opponent
As Begley noted, the Knicks could face the Atlanta Hawks, Toronto Raptors or Orlando Magic in the first round, depending on how Sunday’s results turn out.
The Knicks technically have nothing to gain by winning or losing their regular-season finale against the Charlotte Hornets on Sunday, given that the Hornets are already locked into a play-in berth and can’t move up in the standings (they don’t own the tiebreaker against the eighth-seeded Philadelphia 76ers).
Furthermore, the Knicks can no longer catch the Boston Celtics (55-26) for the second seed after Joe Mazzulla’s team crushed the New Orleans Pelicans on Friday.
Will Knicks Rest Starters?
With literally nothing to play for on Sunday, the Knicks could sit out their starters, a strategy several other playoff-bound teams have used this week.
After Friday’s win, Mike Brown said his team is least concerned about who they face in the first round.
“ I don’t know who we’ll play in the playoffs, but we’ve played a lot of these teams four or five times, whatever it is,” Brown said, via the New York Post’s Jared Schwartz.
“We feel like we have a pretty good feel on what most teams want to do. And it’s no different for teams looking at us.”
All-Star center Karl-Anthony Towns is just happy to lock up a top-three seed.
“It’s great when you can be anywhere near the top [of the conference],” Towns said.
“We had the chance to dictate our destiny and we did that by winning these games. It’s great to be in this position.”
If the Knicks can get past the Magic, Raptors or Hawks, they could face the Celtics in the second round.
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