How Should Knicks Handle Final Three Before Playoffs?

The New York Knicks are in a secure spot on the NBA Playoff bracket but they might have a little something to play for over an otherwise meaningless trio.

Leave it to the modern New York Knicks to complicate an assured playoff situation.

Granted, that's hardly the Knicks' fault: they've exceeded expectations by locking up the fifth seed on the Eastern Conference postseason bracket and a matchup with the Cleveland Cavaliers is on the way. But no good deed apparently goes unpunished in the NBA and the Knicks (46-33) are in a slightly awkward spot over the next five days.

The countdown to the postseason features three final games against opponents of varied desperation: two come against the doomed Indiana Pacers, beginning on Wednesday night in Indianapolis (7 p.m. ET, MSG) before the regular season closes at Madison Square Garden on Sunday. 

In between, the Knicks face the New Orleans Pelicans on Friday. The Pelicans (one game behind the Los Angeles Clippers for sixth in the West) appear postseason-bound though whether that's through automatic or Play-In means remains to be seen. 

Though the Knicks are denied luxuries like homecourt advantage, they're facing basketball's ultimate first-world problem: how do they deal with a week's worth of games that have absolutely no bearing on the postseason picture and come out clean on the other side?

Other than history made for the pure sake of nostalgia and superstition ... the last time the Knicks swept a season series from the Pacers, they went to the 1994 NBA Finals ... there's literally nothing to play for. The Knicks are locked into the fifth seed, have no shot at a landmark like 50 wins, and it's not like anyone's on pace to break any major team or Association records.

New developments have strongly hinted at the direction of the Knicks' approach to the week: star point guard Jalen Brunson won't play in Indianapolis due to "hand maintenance" while it'd hardly be a surprise to see RJ Barrett (illness) held out for the second straight game. 

Add the curious case of Julius Randle (whose status for the postseason opener is in question due to an ankle injury) and it's hardly a surprise to see the Knicks turn their playoff Advent calendar into de facto preseason games. The woebegone Pacers (potentially sitting both All-Star Tyrese Haliburton and leading rebounder Myles Turner) seem equally eager to play along: as it stands, Indiana (34-45) holds the seventh-best odds to land the top draft pick at the upcoming NBA Draft Lottery and can move as high as fifth with further losing. 

By all means, it should be a week of rest of relaxation, maybe even a time for a brief Derrick Rose farewell tour (provided, of course, Rose is healthy, as the long-exiled MVP has likewise has dealt with an illness). A hint of unexpected guests broke out on Sunday when Barrett's absence afforded Evan Fournier seven minutes of action, his first on-court appearance beyond clock-killing duties since Feb. 5. The Knicks would also be the first team to discount the notion of entering the playoffs on a "high note:" that's exactly what they did in their last playoff trip in 2021 and their 16-4 close-out was rewarded with a five-game ousting at the hands of the Atlanta Hawks. 

But the Knicks have a lingering case to go all-out this week, even if they're showing an abundance of caution when it comes to their roster. 

Randle is set for a re-evaluation after the regular season lets out. Until such data is gathered, it'd perhaps be wise for the Knicks to assume that Randle won't partake in the opener against Cleveland, whenever that lands. Therefore, the Knicks are going into the postseason with Obi Toppin, who just last week was the de facto ninth-man in Tom Thibodeau's patented rotation, as a starter. 

Toppin is an unusual spot: some assume that these are his final metropolitan hours no matter what he does the rest of the way but the 2020 first-round choice has responded well to the unexpected extended duties required of a Knicks starter. The first two games in the post-Randle era were his first starts of the season but he rediscovered his scoring touch to the tune of 33 points on 64 percent shooting. 

It's not like Toppin's unfamiliar with his fellows in the five: save for Brunson, he has worked with other New York regulars like Barrett, Quentin Grimes, Immanuel Quickley, and Mitchell Robinson since arriving as the eighth overall choice. But lately, the Knicks have found success with newcomers like Isaiah Hartenstein and Josh Hart united on the floor. The latter still stands as the newest Knick and while he has adjusted to the new systems fairly quickly, further development in consequence-free basketball perhaps wouldn't hurt.

Accommodating any issues Hart and Toppin might have as they continue to work in new roles is hardly a true reason for the Knicks to risk disaster in meaningless games. But even the tiniest incentive can help the Knicks find a sense of relative stability and fine-tuning as they embark on a postseason run some saw as improbable. 

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Geoff Magliocchetti is on Twitter @GeoffJMags

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