NY's 1-A Superstar lead Knicks to 2-Seed

Knicks win... Bring on whoever

Final Score: Knicks 120 - Bulls 119
Record: 50-32

The day began with Tom Thibodeau giving his point guard the highest praise imaginable, comparing Jalen Brunson's work ethic to Patrick Ewing's.

"When we first signed [Brunson], yeah, they're different people and different players, but it reminded me of Patrick," Thibs told reporters before the regular season finale. "As soon as we signed Jalen, it was immediately into the gym... it sets the tone for your team."

There is no higher honor in New York than being compared to The Big Fella, who left his blood and guts on the Garden floor every night during his legendary career. 

The day, and the regular season, ended with New York beating the Bulls and securing their 50th victory (for just the second time since Ewing was with the team) and the second-best record in the Eastern Conference, largely thanks to another incredible performance from Brunson. In the process, prophetically enough, Brunson tied Ewing for the second-most 40-point games in one season by a Knicks player. 

There was plenty of debate and consternation about whether or not the Knicks should slip into the 3-seed to avoid the Heat/Sixers in the first round, but for Brunson and Thibs (just as it was for Ewing), victory is the objective.

With New York winning and Milwaukee and Cleveland both losing, the Knicks will enter the 2024 playoffs as the No. 2 seed. Thus, they will play the Miami-Phily 7-8 Play-In Game winner in the first round.

The Heat/76ers matchup will tip off at 7:00 pm on Wednesday. 

The Sixers closed out the regular season on an eight-game winning streak. And although Joel Embiid sat out Sunday's victory over the Nets with what the team termed "injury management," head coach Nick Nurse downplayed the injury concerns and said Embiid would be ready for the Heat. "[Embiid] did everything at practice yesterday," Nurse said after Sunday's win. "We just decided, out of caution, to hold him out. He'll be ready to go. He'll be fine."

Miami closed out the regular season with two blow-out victories over the Raptors, but it's worth noting that the only playoff team they beat over the final three weeks of the season was New York back on April 2. Still, as we were reminded once again last year, the Heat have proven they can flip the switch and advance all the way from the Play-In Tournament to the NBA Finals. 

As for who the Knicks would prefer to face in Round One, arguments could be made both ways. Embiid is the league's reigning MVP and two-time scoring champ. When healthy, he's one of the best all-around players of this generation. And it's not as though Philly is a one-man show. Tyrese Maxey made his first All-Star team this year by averaging 26/6/4. Tobias Harris, a Long Island kid, has played well against the Knicks. The Sixers have an experienced, successful head coach in Nurse and a solid bench featuring Nic Batum and Buddy Hield, who can shoot the lights out. The Sixers were 31-8 in the 39 games Embiid played this season. That's a 65-win pace. 

On the other hand, we have The Boogeymen in Miami. You guys know the history here. Riley and Spo at the top. Playoff Jimmy can be a nightmare. Bam is a terrific two-way player (with a penchant for accidentally injuring opponents). Tyler Herro is back in a groove after some injury issues. Caleb Martin was arguably the team's best player in last year's ECF. They can bring Jaime Jaquez Jr., Delon Wright, Haywood Highsmith, Thomas Bryant and Kevin Love off the bench. And we saw last year how coach Erik Spoelstra drew up a brilliant game plan that forced someone other than Brunson to beat the Heat. (Although, with OG, Deuce and DDV waiting to catch-and-shoot in the corners, that might not be as viable a strategy this time around.) 

The determining factor is obviously Embiid's health. We'll get a look at him Wednesday night and reconvene once we know who the Knicks will be facing. 

As of this morning, the Sixers are favored by 4.5 points. 

For what it's worth, I put out a poll for Knicks fans this morning, and it seems like a pretty even split:

What do you guys think? Let me know in the comments.

One final point regarding the seedings issue: I think folks are underestimating the Pacers, who finished sixth. Indiana is a historically potent offensive club (ranked second this season in Offensive Efficiency, behind only the Celtics) and was top-10 in Net Rating. Tyrese Haliburton is a budding superstar who has proven capable of big games in big spots (the IST and at MSG, etc.). Pascal Siakam is a stud who has won a ring. Aaron Nesmith is a 3-and-D demon. Myles Turner is impactful on both ends and can draw the Knicks centers out of the paint due to his 3-point prowess. They have a solid bench and a good head coach. I would NOT be surprised if they beat the Bucks, especially with Giannis potentially missing the start of the series. (Shams reported this morning that Antetokounmpo is "rehabbing daily, but there's some real doubt about his status to begin the series vs. Pacers on Sunday, sources say. Although Giannis has rare recovery ability, he's very much up in the air for Game 1.”)

I'm not saying that I would have preferred playing the Sixers or Heat over Indy, but it's not as clear-cut as some made it out to be. 

And, again, the Knicks were always going to try and win every game they played. Securing the 2-seed means having home-court advantage in the second round and avoiding Boston until the ECF.

Lastly, the Basketball Gods are always watching. Will karma catch up to the Bucks or Cavs?

The Cavs' slinking into the 4-seed late reeks of a team focused primarily on getting out of the first round rather than doing everything possible to give their club the best chance of winning a championship.

This way, if they beat Orlando in the first round and then get stomped by Boston, Cleveland can sell Donovan Mitchell on the idea that they are improving ("Hey, we made it to the semifinals last season") when they try to sign him to an extension this summer. 

Remember, the Cavs were the 2-seed and five games ahead of the Knicks at the All-Star Break. Yet, the Knicks, playing without their starting SF, starting PF and starting C for most of the second half of the season, passed Cleveland.

Here's what Thibs had to say when asked about potentially manipulating the seeding by resting their regulars down the stretch: "Really? I mean, the object is to win. Put everything you have into winning. That's the bottom line. … I think everything does matter. That's just me personally. And so when we talk about, from the start of the season, we want to be our best at the end. And that's something we strive for. Every day."

Other Takeaways and Knicks Notes:

🏀 Man, what more can we say about Brunson at this point? Not only did he pour in 40 points against Chicago on Sunday (as noted above), but he also grabbed eight boards and dished out seven assists. It was an extraordinary end to a superb season by an exceptional player.  

Remarkably, over the final ten games of the 2023-24 campaign, Brunson averaged 37.8 points and 8.3 assists while slashing 49/40/86%. 

According to Basketball Reference, JB is just the sixth player in NBA history to average 37+ points over the final ten games of a season. The other five are:
Wilt Chamberlain (1961-62)
Kobe Bryant (2005-06)
Tiny Archibald (1971-72)
Michael Jordan (twice, in 1986-87 and 1987-88)
Kareem Abdul Jabbar (1971-72)

Brunson is the first and only player ever to average 37+ points, 8+ assists and 3+ rebounds per game during that closing stretch.

Incredibly, JB led the NBA in total points scored (Luka Doncic was second) and highest +/- (Nikola Jokic was second) in 2024. Insane. 

I could go on forever listing the mind-boggling numbers Brusnon has compiled this season, but I'll save the rest for Wednesday's newsletter when I compose the definitive "Why Jalen Brunson is arguably the league's most valuable player" post. 

🏀 Donte DiVincenzo logged 52(!!) minutes on Sunday and finished with 25 points (10-of-21 FGs), seven rebounds, two assists, two steals, one block, and five 3-pointers. He finishes the season with a franchise record of 283 trey-balls.

After the game, Divo's wife took to social media to announce the birth of the couple's first son! Congrats!

🏀 Josh Hart racked up 12 points (6-of-10 FGs), ten rebounds, four assists, one steal, and one blocked shot in 40 minutes on Sunday.

Hart logged a league-leading 1,471 minutes over the season's final three months. 

And here's a stat that will NOT surprise Knicks fans: Hart finished the season tied for the league-league in loose balls recovered.

🏀 Isaiah Hartenstein returned to the starting lineup after sitting out Friday's game and tallied eight points, 13 boards, four assists, two steals and two blocks. However, he had reached his 30-minute limit in the 4th quarter and sat the rest of the way. 

Surprisingly, Thibs went with Precious Achiuwa down the stretch instead of Mitchell Robinson, and the former Raptor responded with some big plays to close out the victory. "[Achiuwa in OT] was huge, it was huge," Thibodeau said. "Vucevic is a load to deal with. And when teams go small, what Precious gives you is the ability to switch. So I think that's important for us as well."

We learned after the game that Mitch Rob was deemed "unavailable" in the second half. Thibodeau didn't provide any details, simply stating, "They just told me he was unavailable." However, Thibs did add that Robinson's status was "Probably precautionary. So we'll see... It was quick during the game. He just said he was unavailable in the second half. So you go from there."

We'll see if NY provides a positive update on Mitch Rob early this week. 

🏀 Bojan Bogdanovic had another solid offensive outing, chipping in 13 points in 17 minutes off the bench. He was 4-of-9 from the floor and 3-of-6 from downtown. As I've said repeatedly over the past few weeks, Bogey's production in the second quarter and the start of the fourth quarters, when Brunson is resting, will be huge this postseason. Fortunately, it seems like he's found a bit of a rhythm in his new role.