The Knicks officially have avoided the NBA play-in scenarios for the second consecutive year.
Tom Thibodeau’s squad clinched a top-six playoff berth in the Eastern Conference when the Heat lost Wednesday night to the Mavericks in Miami.
The Knicks, who have three games remaining in the regular season beginning Thursday in Boston, still can finish anywhere from second to sixth in the East.
Those spots are separated by just three games, with the third-place Knicks 1 ¹/₂ games behind No. 2 Milwaukee and the same distance ahead of No. 5 Orlando and No. 6 Indiana.
“Same mentality. Same approach,” Jalen Brunson said after Tuesday’s win in Chicago. “I just think as we get close to the end of the season, we’ve been talking about not jogging to the finish line, just sprinting to it. So making sure we’re playing as hard as we can, getting better every single day. And we got to make sure our minds are ready to go.”
The Heat emerged from the play-in one year ago to advance to the NBA Finals as the No. 8 seed in the East, including a six-game elimination of the Knicks in the second round.
The Knicks no longer have key contributors RJ Barrett, Immanuel Quickley, Quentin Grimes or injured All-Star Julius Randle from that playoff squad.
But they have added sharpshooter Donte DiVincenzo, two-way forward OG Anunoby and others, while Brunson has taken the next step into superstar status with 28.4 points and 6.7 assists per game.
Following Thursday’s game in Boston, the Knicks (47-32) will finish the regular season with games against the Nets (Friday) and the Bulls (Sunday) at the Garden.
“We want to win every game, so we play every game to win,” Anunoby said after Tuesday’s game. “We don’t really worry about anything else. Just try to win every game.”
