Playoff Bound

Today we gear up for the Celtics with a special preview. Plus, I pay homage to the four-man group that has comprised the soul of the Knicks.

Good morning! Lot’s to get to today, so let’s not waste any time…

PLAYOFFS BABY!

By virtue of Miami’s loss to the Mavs last night in South Beach, the 2023-24 New York Knicks have clinched a playoff birth as a top-six seed. 🥳

That much we know. Almost everything else is still up in the air.

The big East game of the night was between the Magic and Bucks, which Milwaukee won going away despite not having Giannis Antetokounmpo. Cleveland also won against the depleted Grizzlies, although that game was tied midway through the third - not a great sign for the Cavs. The Pacers and Sixers had the night off.

Because Orlando lost, New York is now in great position to get the third seed, even with a 2-1 finish. They’re still alive for the second seed, but they’d need to go 3-0 with the Bucks going 0-2.

That sounds unlikely, but Milwaukee has a tough game in OKC on Friday night before heading to Orlando for the season finale.

Is it possible the Bucks will punt the Magic game to try and manipulate the standings, perhaps to avoid an unwanted first round opponent? That likely depends on what happens on Friday in one of the two biggest remaining games in the Eastern Conference, when the Pacers head to Cleveland to face the Cavs. If Cleveland wins that game, they’d be in position to pass Milwaukee in the standings so long as they took care of their own business on Sunday against Charlotte.

If that happened and the Knicks won out, New York would finish in 2nd, the Cavs 3rd and the Bucks 4th. Because (I’m guessing) Milwaukee would like to avoid being on Boston’s side of the bracket, especially with Antetokounmpo hobbled, I’d expect them to take the season-ending Magic game seriously provided that Cleveland beats Indiana, the Bucks lose to OKC, and New York wins their next two.

And we haven’t even gotten to the craziest part yet. If the Knicks go 2-1, the Cavs go 2-0 and and Bucks go 0-2, all three teams would end up with 49 wins. In that case, New York would actually end up in 4th place by virtue of a Cleveland division win, which would supersede the Knicks’ head-to-head tiebreaker over the Cavs because this would be a 3-team tie.

Would that be New York’s nightmare scenario? That depends on your perspective. On one hand, they’d be hosting a 4/5 series with the Magic if this is how things unfolded, which might be seen as preferable. On the other hand, beat Orlando, and Boston awaits in round two.

But there’s also a world where the Knicks end up in third and their reward in the first round will be Philadelphia and the reigning (and rested) MVP. Because of Orlando’s loss last night, if the Sixers beat the Magic on Friday in the other biggest remaining Eastern Conference game, Philly could be a season-ending win against the Nets from passing Orlando in the standings and ending up in 6th.

I say “could” because they’d only win a head to head tiebreaker with the Magic, but Orlando would pull ahead in a three (or more) team tiebreaker by virtue of a division win, which might then push Philly down to seven, depending of course on what happens between the Cavs and Pacers, and 17 other things I’m probably forgetting.

(as a reminder, your Knicks Film School subscription does not come with Advil)

You get the gist. SO much is still up in the air¹, and it’s entirely possible that the Knicks won’t know their seed or their first round opponent until Sunday at 4 pm. Even with a win in Boston tonight, the Knicks could theoretically finish as low as 6th.

On that note, let’s end this segment with the current playoff probabilities for each team and seed according to PlayoffStatus.com:

Game Night

TONIGHT: Knicks at Celtics, 7:30 pm, TNT

Injury Report: Basically the entire Celtics team has the questionable tag:

There are no injuries reported for the Knicks other than Julius.

Halftime: No Zoom tonight, but I’ll be back tomorrow.

What to watch for: This one is pretty simple: who winds up suiting up for Boston?

Other than that, I have a very special Celtics preview coming up in the second half of this newsletter. But first…

Core Four

With only three games left in the regular season, before the page turns to the playoffs, I want to take a moment and pay a bit of homage.

The subject (or subjects, as it were) is the group of players I will most associate with this year’s team when I think about it 20, 30 or (God willing) 40 years from now.

They’re the only dudes that will finish this season with at least 70 games played in a Knick uniform (although Deuce McBride will come damn close with 69) and the only guys that will see at, around, or over 2000 total minutes.

Thus far this season, they have shared the court during 60 of the 79 games the Knicks have played. No other group of the same size will top 38.

It’s the group I’m dubbing New York’s “Core Four” for the 2023-24 season.

And hopefully beyond.