Where the Knicks lie in the Eastern Conference standings

With less than 20 games left to go in the regular season, NBA teams are looking to make one last push to assume the best possible record before playoff time. The first three quarters of the season have come and gone, and as Q4 of the season begins, it’s worth taking inventory of how the New York Knicks stack up in the playoff standings relative to their Eastern Conference peers.

This is what the East looks like as of March 12th.

The Knicks are the current four seed, sitting at 37-27. Their early season play propelled them to a top seed, and they were flirting with the two spot for a little, but injuries have decimated the team as of late. New York has gone 8-10 since Julius Randle’s injury, doing just enough to hang around on the right side of the home-court conversation.

Ahead of them are the Boston Celtics, who are a shoo-in to clinch the #1 seed. Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and co. are doing their thing, and Boston is a sparkling 4-0 against the Knickerbockers so far this year. A possible second round matchup would be… hard.

Sitting at spots two and three, only a game apart (and 4.5 and 3.5 games ahead of the Knicks, respectively) are the Milwaukee Bucks and Cleveland Cavaliers. The Bucks are the Celtics’ biggest threat to come out of the East. Giannis teaming up with Dame didn’t lead to the jump that some people hypothesized, but the team still puts up points in bunches and are a tough out for any squad. The Cavs added some depth pieces, but are largely the same squad as last year. They won 17 of 18 over a stretch spanning the beginning of January to the middle of February, but they’ve largely been playing .500 ball since then.

I bring this to your attention because it seems like the Knicks’ fortunes may be starting to turn around. Tonight, after an extended period of absence, OG Anunoby will be back on the court for the orange and blue. Mitchell Robinson and Julius Randle could both be on the court by the end of the month. The sputtering Knicks could find a spark with the reinforcements on the way, and a run at a top-3 seed could still be possible. The New York schedule is decently easy the rest of the way, and the Cavs and Bucks have both had significant stretches where they have played at .500 or below. It’s unlikely that the Knicks trade spots with one of the two teams, but it’s a possibility.

On the bleaker side of things, the reason the Knicks need to start winning a couple more games is because of the influx of teams looking to snatch a top-4 seed from under their chin.

The Knicks are only two games out of the 8-seed.

Sorry to burst your bubble, but it has to be spoken about.

The Orlando Magic just won 8 out of 9, and sit 0.5 games back of the Knicks in the five slot. 0.5 games behind them are the Philadelphia 76ers, who have been facing injury problems of their own as they eagerly await the return of Joel Embiid. 0.5 games back of them? The Indiana Pacers, who started the season off hot and have Tyrese Haliburton, who is coming back into his own after a brief injury. Guess how far back the Miami Heat are from the Pacers? I’ll give you a hint. It’s 0.5 games. Jimmy Butler and the Heat can turn it on whenever they want. Be very scared.

All of this to say… if the Knicks keep playing .500 ball, somebody will catch them. I don’t know who, or when. But there’s enough season left for one of the aforementioned teams to not catch up to them at the level they’ve been playing.

The cutoff for the play-in tournament is the seven seed, and dropping to that would mean disaster. Let alone hosting a playing series; the New York Knicks need to close out the season strong if they want to avoid the play-in and ensure that their team at full strength can make a run this postseason.

Hosting another playoff series would mean the world to New York, and the team has shown time and time again that they have the toughness to fight for each and every win. It remains to be seen how the rest of the season plays out, but the Knicks are at a pivotal point in what could end up being a defining season for the city. Finish the regular season poorly, and you could be destined to fizzle out after a play-in appearance. Finish the regular season strong, and this could be the year New York has been waiting for for a long time.