Thursday Mailbag

Plus, some injury updates.

Good morning! Is tonight the night the Knicks get back to their winning ways? They may have to overcome yet another injury to do so, which we’ll get to right now…

Game Night

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

Injury Report: Josh Hart popped up on the injury report with a questionable designation for a right wrist sprain. According to Stef Bondy, this was bothering him before the Miami game, which might explain his hesitancy to shoot.

Other than Hart, Mitchell Robinson is again listed as questionable, while Anunoby and Randle remain out. Regarding OG, Ian Begley said yesterday that “I think we're still days away, at least, from an OG Anunoby return” So that’s something.

For Sacramento, Malik Monk and Kevin Huerter are out.

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

What to watch for: Getting the Kings on an off night, hopefully.

Following their 8-4 start, Sacramento has won more than two consecutive games just three times: two streaks of three straight and one of four straight. The last of those was over a month ago.

Well, the Kings come into the Garden having won two in a row, so perhaps they’re due for a letdown.

Hopefully New York’s defense is up to the task. The Kings are just 8-27 when they fail to score 120 points, which is a total the Knicks have allowed just once since the All-Star break, when they gave up 130 to the Spurs.

News & Notes

🏀 The Knicks got a gift from their little brothers across the river when Brooklyn beat the Pacers last night, giving the Knicks a 2.0 game cushion on the six seed, which is now occupied by both Miami and Indiana. On the downside, the Magic won a big game in New Orleans, which gives them a 0.5 game lead for the fourth seed.

Up tonight: a massive game between the Sixers and Heat in South Beach.

🏀 Alec Burks is changing agents, switching from Octagon to Klutch. Interesting timing following his three-minute stint on Tuesday night.

🏀 Jalen Brunson finished 6th in the last ESPN MVP straw poll, and was within shouting distance of Jayson Tatum for 5th. If he finishes 6th or higher, he’ll be just the second Knick to do so since Patrick Ewing finished 5th in 1995, joining Carmelo Anthony, who finished 3rd in 2013.

Thursday Mailbag

I counted 20 questions for this week’s edition, which may be our last of the regular season depending on how next week pans out. Let’s get to it…

Kyle M asks... Given the current standings with 7 games to go, would you prefer to see us stick at 4/5 or fall back to 6?

4/5, I’m pretty sure.

I’m assuming in this scenario the Cavs would get the 3 seed. I also assume there’s at least a decent chance Donovan Mitchell will be healthy and rested. Cleveland is 34-17 with him in the lineup, and in adding Strus as their fifth starter, they answered one of, if not the biggest question that plagued them in the playoffs last season. On paper, they could beat a healthy Knicks team, let alone whatever version we’re going to see in two and a half weeks.

That said, the Cavs’ lack of physicality was arguably the biggest problem in their five-game decimation at the hands of the Knicks, and that issue may not have gone away. I say “may” because Julius Randle, for as much as he struggled throughout much of that series, was a big part of beating the ever-loving snot out of Cleveland’s front line. So was Mitchell Robinson, who may not be back to normal by the postseason, and even if he is, will be limited to a sub-20 minute role.

Maybe none of that matters, and maybe New York is just in their heads. Even with all of their injuries, the Knicks remain the best rebounding team in the NBA this season and give up the fifth fewest points in the paint. It’s entirely possible that we will have enough to get by.

There’s also this: in 306 minutes together, Cleveland’s fully healthy starting five has a negative scoring margin. There’s something about it, whether it’s having two small, ball-dominant guards or two non-spacing bigs, that simply isn’t working as well as it should be.

And even with all of that said, I’d rather face the Magic. Since the NBA became the offense-first league that it is today, bottom-10 offenses rarely fare well in the postseason. We went seven seasons without a single bottom-10 offense advancing out of the first round until the 25th ranked Heat did so last year, and that team broke an awful lot of rules.

Most importantly, they were a veteran-heavy group who’d won five playoff series in the previous three seasons. This Magic team has never been under those bright lights.

For that reason, and because my priority remains getting out of the first round and avoiding the black clouds that would gather upon an early exit, give me 4/5. They’d be playing with house money against Boston in the second round. Take your shot and let the chips fall where they may.