The New York Knicks’ quest for a guaranteed playoff spot and a top-six finish in the Eastern Conference has not been doomed by consecutive losses.
However, the Knicks will attempt to end their skid Thursday night when they visit the Orlando Magic to complete a back-to-back set in Florida. The urgency of the situation has increased due to the defeats.
On Wednesday night, the Knicks suffered a 127-120 defeat to the Miami Heat to kick off their southern tour. By defeating the host Washington Wizards 122-112 on Tuesday night, the Magic maintained their slim chances of qualifying for the Eastern Conference play-in tournament.
The loss cut the Knicks’ (42-32) two-game lead over the Brooklyn Nets (39-33) and Heat (40-34)—who are virtually tied for sixth place—while keeping them in fifth place in the East. The play-in tournament determines the final two playoff teams from the seventh through tenth-place finishers.
As they did following Monday’s 140-134 defeat to the Minnesota Timberwolves, the Knicks were left to rue a poor defensive performance on Wednesday night.
Two nights earlier, the Timberwolves shot 61.4 percent (51 of 83) overall and 58.3 percent (14 of 24) from beyond the arc, while the Heat shot 57% (45 of 79) from the field and 57.1 percent (16 of 28) on 3-point attempts.
The Knicks overcame a 16-point deficit in the third quarter to take a few leads in the fourth on Monday. On Wednesday, they came back from an 11-point deficit in the third quarter and held the lead twice in the fourth. However, the Heat took a 101-100 lead with 7:05 remaining on a 3-pointer from Max Strus, which kicked off a game-ending stretch in which Miami made all five 3-point attempts.
By defeating the 12th-place Wizards on Tuesday, the Magic (30-43), who fell to 32-41 with a 118-104 loss to the Denver Nuggets on Wednesday night, tightened the race for the final play-in spot. The Magic are currently in 13th place in the East.
After going 2-5 from February 25 to March 9, Orlando is 3-3 in its last six games.
After the Chicago Bulls’ 116-91 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday night, the Magic are 4 1/2 games behind 10th-place Chicago. However, for a team whose top five scorers are all under 25, even staying on the fringes of postseason contention could be beneficial.
