The New York Knicks had quite the hill to climb to secure the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference, which they did on Sunday by coming from behind to defeat the Chicago Bulls in the regular-season finale.
After proving that they could be a force in the East after trading for OG Anunoby by going 14-2 in January, the Knicks lost their new acquisition to elbow surgery and an All-Star in Julius Randle to a dislocated shoulder that ultimately ended his season. This after losing Mitchell Robinson to ankle surgery in December.
Anunoby and Robinson came back, but not until the final stretch of the regular season. All the while, Jalen Brunson elevated himself into the NBA MVP conversation to keep the Knicks in position toward the top of the standings.
Five straight wins were needed to end the season to snatch the No. 2 seed from the Milwaukee Bucks, who saw their superstar in Giannis Antetokounmpo go down with a calf injury, and they did just that.
“The thing is, every season when you go into it, there’s a number of possibilities. There’s a number of things you have to navigate through,” Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau said. “That’s what I love about this team. It was right from the start. Mitch got hurt, then Julius, then OG. So we don’t have a starting front line but then we had a number of guys step up and play great. That’s important for the team.”
Among those role-playing accomplishments was Josh Hart’s triple-double surge with six this season. Donte DiVincenzo provided a steady three-point presence from beyond the arc, including a franchise-record 11 threes made on March 25. Isaiah Hartenstein and Precious Achiuwa held the 5 down when Robinson was shelved.
“To see what Jalen did, to see what Josh did, to see Isaiah, Donte, it was good. You have to be a team. It’s not the best individuals. It’s the best team. there was no quit in this team. They fought every night… The spirit of this team is strong.
“When you have competitors, it doesn’t matter. Competitors compete. It doesn’t matter if it’s a game, one-on-one, a shooting game, dominoes, some crazy podcast. They compete. You don’t have to wind these guys up and that’s what I love about them… That’s important.”
A stiff first-round test awaits New York regardless of nabbing a top-two spot in the conference. The Philadelphia 76ers and Miami Heat face off in the play-in round with the winner heading to Madison Square Garden for Game 1 of the opening round.
The Knicks went 3-1 in four games against the 76ers this season and 2-1 against the Heat.
“We wanted to be playing our best at the end,” Thibodeau said. “That’s what we strive toward every day. The playoffs start and you’re at a zero base again. You have to earn everything. Hopefully, we’ve built the right habits to put us in a position to win.”
