With less than 20 games left in the regular season, the race for the final spot in the Eastern Conference has tightened up to just a three-game margin between the Atlanta Hawks and the New York Knicks.
Knicks win and Hawks lose, tightening race for East’s last playoff spot
It’s a race to see who will take on the first place finisher in the Eastern Conference.
On Friday, New York escaped with a win after the Philadelphia 76ers decided to tank their way to their franchise-record 23rd-straight loss. The Sixers had a wide-open three-pointer thanks to Carmelo Anthony sagging to the lane to help out on a driving James Anderson, but the kick to Thaddeus Young in the corner went awry and the Knicks escaped with a win, 93-92. The win puts the Knicks at an impossibly-close 29-40, just three games back of the Hawks for the eighth and final playoff spot.
Atlanta has given ballast to their sinking ship since the second week of March. The Hawks were 2-14 from Feb. 1 to Mar. 8 before going on a five-game winning streak. Friday night's loss to the New Orleans Pelicans ended that streak, and now has Knicks fans clamoring for another series of losses in Atlanta to end the year.
In order for New York to catch the Hawks, they will have to make up the three games they are down and then some. The teams are tied in head-to-head matchups on the year, and Atlanta currently has the better in-conference record, which stands as the tiebreaker should they finish with identical records.
The winning percentage of remaining opponents for both teams stands at around .500, and the only real advantage might be that the Hawks play the majority of their games at home. Still, it is unlikely that either team gets to 40 wins on the season. Any first round matchup will be difficult for either team, having to face either the Pacers or the Heat in the first round of the playoffs.
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