That is going to return off as disrespectful to the Indiana Pacers, and maybe it’s, however the easy truth is {that a} increased seed within the NBA playoffs shouldn’t be all the time a very good factor. 

Living proof: The New York Knicks are the Jap Convention’s No. 2 seed after defeating the Chicago Bulls in extra time on Sunday, which suggests a first-round matchup with both the Philadelphia 76ers or Miami Warmth. Had New York, let’s assume, allowed the Chicago recreation slip via its fingers down the stretch, it might have been the No. 3 seed and set to play the Pacers within the first spherical. 

Once more, maybe it is disrespectful to the Pacers to counsel they characterize a better sequence than the Sixers or Warmth, however a case absolutely may be made. That’s even with loads of individuals suggesting they’ve an actual shot to upset Milwaukee within the No. 3 vs. No. 6 sequence. The Sixers with Joel Embiid had been a top-shelf contender, and he has hit the bottom operating in his return. The Warmth are, properly, the Warmth. If you’d like any a part of them in a playoff sequence, you are a masochist. 

The league tries to keep away from this form of seed manipulation by scheduling all these video games on the identical time on the ultimate day of the season. However halfway via the fourth quarter, the Knicks knew that Cleveland and the Bucks had each misplaced and Orlando had gained, which secured the Cavs into No. 4 and the Magic into No. 5. The one factor left to be decided was Nos. 2 and three, and it rode totally on New York’s end result. 

So, once more, they might’ve, you already know, missed just a few photographs they could’ve ordinarily made (although I am unsure Donte DiVincenzo might miss if he tried, to be honest), and even performed slightly extra relaxed protection on DeMar DeRozan on potential game-winners on the finish of regulation and extra time. 

However that is not how Tom Thibodeau and these Knicks roll. 

“Rivals compete. It would not matter if it is a recreation, if it is 1 on 1, if it is a taking pictures recreation, if it is dominoes, if it is some loopy podcast… they compete,” Thibodeau stated. “You do not have to wind these guys up. And that is what I really like about them. We’re not going to be good, however they are going to compete.”

In different phrases, the Knicks are going to play to win. 

All the time. 

This isn’t a workforce that put itself in place to be the No. 2 seed within the first place by taking its foot off the gasoline or fearing sure opponents. This can be a workforce stuffed with absolute scrappers. The very best breed of rivals — guys like DiVincenzo and Josh Hart and Jalen Brunson, the Villanova boys who do not know some other technique to play basketball than with their complete coronary heart. 

And everyone knows Thibodeau is a aggressive maniac. The man would play his greatest gamers 48 minutes to win a charity recreation if that is what was required. That is the profitable potion of this specific Knicks workforce. Leon Rose and his entrance workplace has paired the proper roster with the proper coach. They’re all reduce from the identical aggressive, grind-it-out material. They do not again down, and so they certain as hell do not lose video games on function. 

What’s attention-grabbing is the Cleveland Cavaliers had been in the same place. They entered the fourth quarter of their recreation towards the Hornets with an eight-point lead, and J.B. Bickerstaff selected to maintain his starters on the bench for the whole fourth quarter. 

They misplaced the fourth quarter by 16 factors, and the sport by 10, and so they now will play the Magic within the No. 4 vs. No. 5 matchup when a victory, realizing Milwaukee had misplaced, would’ve put them at No. 3 for a first-round sequence with Indiana. 

Maybe the Cavs did not see a lot distinction in dealing with Orlando or Indiana within the first spherical, however transferring as much as No. 3 would’ve meant no potential second-round matchup with the Celtics. If Cleveland actually wished to make a deep run, it might’ve finished no matter it might to get to No. 3. However they did not. 

The Knicks went the opposite approach, and a few would say that is why they seem to be a completely different workforce. A extra harmful workforce, even when their first-round opponent has additionally ended up being extra harmful than it wanted to be.