The New York Knicks are playoff bound. The Knicks secured a spot in the postseason with a 118-109 win over the Washington Wizards on Sunday night.
With the win, the Knicks have improved to a 46-33 record, meaning that they can’t finish worse than the sixth seed in the Eastern Conference standing. This will be the third playoff trip for the Knicks in the past three seasons. Prior to that, the famed franchise endured a seven-year postseason drought.
The Knicks took on a depleted Wizards team that played without stars Bradley Beal and Kristaps Porzingis, but it wasn’t a walk in the park like many assumed. The New York team was trailing eight points at halftime and needed a strong third period, in which they outscored the Wizards by 15 points, to take control of the game.
Four of the Knicks’ starters scored 20+ points, with Jalen Brunson and Quentin Grimes leading the way with 27 points each. Washington, on the other hand, saw a big night from forward Corey Kispert, who scored 29 points.
While the Knicks will feel good about clinching the playoff spot early, the job might not be done for them just yet. They will need a strong finish of the regular season if they want to be in danger of losing the No. 5 seed to the Brooklyn Nets, who sit as the sixth seed with 2.5 games behind.
