The grind was getting to them and maybe, for the first time, something else: in a season when the Knicks have played every game as if they had everything to prove and nothing to lose, suddenly the equation was much different.
Suddenly, they really did have something to lose.
The Nets had hung on by their fingertips across the river, but they’d hung on nevertheless, beaten the Jazz by a point. So the Knicks knew at tipoff that not only would they have to beat the Wizards (missing four-fifths of their starting lineup) to officially clinch a full playoff bid, they’d have to win to inch ever closer to securing the No. 5 slot in the East.
“So many things at stake,” Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said.
Naturally, the Knicks found themselves in a hole early in the third quarter, trailing the carefree Wizards by nine and looking all kinds of tight. The full Garden, 19,812 strong, buzzed anxiously. The Knicks had already done well this week, beating the Heat, beating the Cavaliers, setting themselves up nicely.
But to paraphrase Gordon Gekko: they needed to keep doing good.
“We were challenged,” Jalen Brunson said, “and we responded.”
They beat the Wizards 118-109, putting together a nifty 59-30 patch to put the game away and make it official: for the second time in three years (but only the sixth time since 2001) they would be going to the playoffs. And while you can’t technically say their magic number to clinch the 5 seed is 1, if they can beat the Pacers Wednesday night the No. 5 seed will be theirs for real.
“We need to keep playing,” Thibodeau said. “We want to be at our best going in.”
The No. 5 seed is a terrific accomplishment for a team whose consensus ceiling coming out of preseason was qualifying for the play-in tournament. But even that only guarantees a more reasonable first-round test against the Cavs, rather than having to see any of the Big 3 in the East (Boston, Philly, Milwaukee) right away.
We may look back on the seven days past as a critical gauntlet for the Knicks. When last Monday dawned the Knicks were reeling a bit, losers of three straight, with a concerning mojo around them that could easily have gone sideways and nudged them closer to the play-in subset.
But they took care of business Monday, handling the Rockets after some early sluggishness. They won the most important game of the year Wednesday, beating the Heat though it came with the bittersweet ramification of Julius Randle’s sprained ankle. Then they beat the Cavs in Cleveland in a wild slugfest Friday night.
And Sunday, they shook off the diminished Wizards. The Knicks were missing Randle and also RJ Barrett (out with an illness), and they seemed vulnerable until they weren’t. The fact is they needed to win this, and found a way to win it, and in the final week of an NBA season you don’t worry about how you pile up the wins, just that you stack them as high as you can.
“The bottom line,” Thibodeau said, “is to find a way to win.”
It would seriously behoove the Knicks to take care of business Wednesday night in Indianapolis, because then they can spend the season’s final two games — at New Orleans Friday, home to the Pacers Sunday — getting themselves healthy and as right as possible for the start of the playoffs on the other side of the play-in tournament.
The Knicks were again reminded of how fragile all of this can seem when Josh Hart tweaked his foot in the fourth, and when he went down the gasp inside the Garden was audible and tangible. He retreated to the locker room but returned to the bench, and later declared himself fine.
Sunday clinched the first time in Hart’s career that he’ll make the playoffs, and the draft pick the Knicks dealt to Portland officially became a first-rounder now that they secured the Top Six. They will gladly take the trade-off, seeing as how they are now 15-6 with him in the lineup.
“I’m extremely excited,” Hart said. “It’s something I’ve wanted to do but haven’t had the opportunity to do.”
He smiled.
“I can’t wait to see the Garden rocking during that time.”
The Garden can’t wait, either. It’s waited patiently for a team like this one, a team worth of a fine springtime run. How long can that last? We’ll find that out soon enough. So far?
Yeah. So far, so good.
