A chance to take a giant step toward security awaits the Knicks.
The danger of sinking into unwanted uncertainty looms as well, however.
With nine games left to play in the regular season, the Knicks (42-31) sit as the No. 5 seed in the Eastern Conference as they travel to Miami for what has turned into a crucial matchup with the No. 7-seeded Heat on Wednesday night.
At 39-34, the Heat enter the clash three games behind the Knicks, with the Nets sandwiched between them.
Most importantly, the Heat find themselves on the wrong side of the play-in cutoff.
As part of the NBA’s play-in tournament, which was adopted for the pandemic-impacted 2019-20 season and subsequently implemented permanently, the No. 7 through No. 10 seeds in each conference play in a mini tournament to determine the final two teams in the playoffs.
The No. 7 and 8 seeds get two opportunities to win one game and secure their spot in the playoff field, while the No. 9 and 10 seeds must win two consecutive games to earn a spot.
The Knicks won both of the first two meetings with the Heat this season.
“They’re a good team. Great culture,” Jalen Brunson said of the Heat following the Knicks’ letdown 140-134 loss to the Timberwolves on Monday night, his second game back from a bruised left foot. “They have some leaders on that team that are known for just fighting until the end. They’ll give us their best shot. We stole one down there last time, so we’ve got to be ready.”
Tom Thibodeau’s team would have liked to enter the Heat matchup with a bit more margin for error, but the Knicks spoiled Julius Randle’s career-high 57 points in the loss to Minnesota.
The scoring output was tied for the third-most in a single game in franchise history, but, despite taking a late lead, the Knicks couldn’t slow down the red-hot Timberwolves’ offense, which was without leading scorers Anthony Edwards and Karl-Anthony Towns.
The loss snapped a three-game winning streak, and left the Knicks in a precarious position in the standings.
The Knicks are nearly equidistant from both the No. 4-seeded Cavaliers and the Heat in the No. 7 seed — and play-in tournament — as the battle for playoff positioning gets set to reach a crescendo in the final stretch of the regular season.
The Heat have won three of their last four.
With a win, the Knicks would find themselves four games above the Heat and the play-in cutoff and in strong position to solidify themselves in the top-six seeds over the final eight games.
Additionally, they’d keep alive their ambition to both overtake the Cavaliers and fend off the No. 6-seeded Nets.
A loss, though, leaves the Knicks just two games above the play-in.
“I think our group has been really good this year at just taking it one day at a time,” Immanuel Quickley said after Monday night’s loss. “Whether we play great, whether we don’t play great, we always try to focus on the next game. We gotta be ready for [the Heat] to be up to touch. They play the same way the Timberwolves do.
“But we’ve been really good this year at just taking it one game at a time. It’s a long season, which is hard to do. But I think that’s one of our better traits. As well as us being dogs on the floor, we’re really good at taking the season one day at a time and just trying to get better.”
The Knicks and Heat play each other again March 29. Other than the two games against Miami and one game against Cleveland, the Knicks’ other six games to close the regular season are against struggling teams currently outside the playoff picture.
The Knicks’ ability to avoid the play-in lies completely in their own hands.
“We don’t change, I think that’s important,” Thibodeau said on Monday. “If you haven’t been doing the right things all along and you’re trying to catch up now, it’s too late. Stay locked in to exactly your routine, what you’ve done all the way up to this point. You take it step by step, you don’t look ahead. There’s no magic to this. Put the work in each and every day, be focused.”