Knicks 122, Bucks 109: “I can’t believe Doc just quit”

New York was minus-11 in the first half of Sunday’s game against the Milwaukee Bucks.

The Knicks, however, flipped the script entirely through the final 24 minutes of play, finishing the matchup against the not-for-long No. 2 seed in the East with a positive plus-24.

Net result: New York 122, Milly 109.

The Kincks’s comeback was so good that—well, let MelleMehl tell you: “I can’t believe Doc just quit.“

Being too positive about this result is drinking the Orange & Blue Kool-Aid a bit.

• The Knicks still have a losing 2-3 head-to-head record against the Bucks this season with no more games between them.
• The Knicks are tied with Orlando in the standings but still behind the Magic because New York also lost the regular-season series against them 1-3.
• The Knicks are still one full game behind the Bucks (No. 2) in the standings, and they are only 1.5 games ahead of the Pacers (No. 6) above the Play-In cut and 2.5 games ahead of Philly (No. 7) beyond that line.
• The Knicks have the 8th-toughest remaining schedule, nearly on par with Orlando’s (6th), and definitely much tougher than Cleveland’s (28th).

Now, hear me out.

The Bucks have the absolute toughest schedule, per Tankathon, and four games left. They have to play the Celtics, the Thunder, and most importantly the Magic twice. Something has to give, right?

Milwaukee has four games in a row including Sunday. The Bucks have dropped six of their last seven. Three of those recent losses came in back-to-back-to-back affairs against the freaking Wizards, Grizzlies, and Raptors.

The Cavaliers have lost three games in a row, to both Los Angeles teams most recently and the Suns before that. They have dropped four of their last five, only beating the tanking Jazz in that span.

The Magic nearly count their games in wins, yes, but three of their last four wins were against teams located in Memphis, Portland, and Chicago. The loss smacked right in the middle of that run? One at Charlotte. At Charlotte!

What I’m saying is that no, the Knicks have not been supremely great of late. The season got semi-derailed as early as last December. Things took a turn for the worse a month later. Hopes nearly cratered just a few days ago when Randle’s news hit the shores.

But the thing is the Knicks have not really needed to be good to be where they are, which is factually the No. 4 spot in the East but virtually as close as it gets to the No. 2 seed and thus to avoiding the Celtics in the playoffs until the Eastern Conference Finals—if ever meeting the Leprechaun.

Hell, even clinching the No. 3 seed by overtaking the Magic if just by a measly half-game would be more than enough and a reason to keep our hopes for a deep postseason run as high as a Georgia pine.

This is not a proper game recap (Russell has us exquisitely covered on that front, though), but as Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau said before Sunday’s matchup...

“I have no idea what day it is. It’s the best time of the year. If you love competition—it’s fascinating down the stretch, because you have to have a lot of different schools of thought and understand the intensity that’s involved in these games right now, and it’s across the board.

“Everyone is fighting for something right now.”

I don’t even know where we are and where this will end. Only four games left. Let’s cook. Go Knicks!