The Knicks are acutely aware of what’s ahead of them in the postseason. Every game will be crucial. Every possession is valuable. They will have little margin for error, their flaws magnified against possible opponents they have yet to defeat this season.
As the Knicks conclude the regular season, they are experiencing what is analogous to dress rehearsals going up against teams they may face in the playoffs. They hosted the Boston Celtics, the Eastern Conference’s No. 2 seed, at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday endeavoring to avert an 0-4 record against the defending NBA champions. The Knicks were unsuccessful, losing to the Celtics, who improved to 59-20, by 119-117 in overtime. It was the closest the Knicks have played the Celtics this season. Yet forward Josh Hart said that moral victories were not good enough.
“Nah, I don’t think there’s anything positive about it,” he said. “I think we’re playing good basketball and that’s kind of where we want to be towards the end of the year, going into the playoffs, playing our best basketball. We played well. We didn’t play well enough to win, obviously. We got to continue to build.”
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Center Karl-Anthony Towns, who led the team with 34 points and 14, was aligned with Hart.
“No, we don’t take moral victories. We did a better job, but it’s about getting the win and we didn’t do that tonight.”
The Knicks, the current No. 3 seed, have not yet clinched that spot for the playoffs. They are 50-29 and have three games remaining, including tonight’s road match up with the No. 6 seed Detroit Pistons (43-36). The No. 4 seed Indiana Pacers are just two games behind the Knicks at 48-31. The jockeying for seedings from the No. 3 through No. 6 positions is still fluid and may not be decided until Sunday, when the NBA regular season ends.
As is the case in being winless versus the Celtics, the Knicks are 0-3 this season against the East’s top seed Cleveland Cavaliers, which has solidified the No. 1 standing with a 63-16 mark. Only the Western Conference’s Oklahoma City Thunder have a better record, as they were 65-14 when the played the Phoenix Suns last night. The Knicks will meet up with the Cavaliers tomorrow at the Garden and the Nets at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn on Sunday before the playoffs open the weekend of April 19. The playoffs will begin in earnest after the conclusion of next week’s play-in tournament, which will feature the No. 7 through No. 10 seeds from each conference.
The Celtics and Cavaliers are a barometer and seemingly immovable obstacle for the Knicks, which made it to the Eastern Conference semifinals last season. A year ago, they were disadvantaged by multiple players being out with injuries and succumbed to the Pacers 4-3. Tuesday’s loss was only the second game back for Knicks All-Star Jalen Brunson after he missed 15 straight recovering from a right ankle sprain.
Head coach Tom Thibodeau maintained that for the moment, it is irrelevant how the Knicks fare against teams they may come across in the postseason.
“I mean, I don’t think it has anything to do with who we might see or might not see. I mean, there’s so much that goes in that we have to do before that, which is win tomorrow and the next day and the day after and get there.”