their lottery odds<\/a> (Brooklyn can only catch the Pacers at the bottom of the standings, and Indiana would also have to lose to the Pistons). So assuming that result, the Raptors will clinch the fifth seed if Atlanta beats Miami (not likely since the Hawks are resting players) OR the Magic beat the Celtics (which is a likely outcome since Boston is resting players).<\/p>\nThe Knicks can feel fairly safe scouting the Raptors.<\/p>\n
Possible but don\u2019t count on it<\/p>\n
The Knicks draw the Hawks in the first round.<\/p>\n
This happens if on Sunday:<\/p>\n
Toronto beats Brooklyn; Miami beats Atlanta; Boston beats Orlando<\/p>\n
Tough to see this happening because it requires a result \u2014 Boston beating Orlando \u2014 that goes against the odds. The Magic are highly motivated to win Sunday since there\u2019s a chance they can move out of a play-in spot (while the Celtics, who are locked into the No. 2 seed, are resting several players).<\/p>\n
Why would this happen if three teams could tie for sixth in the East? If the Raptors and Magic win \u2014 and Hawks lose \u2014 they\u2019d all have 46 wins, and the three-way tiebreaker means Atlanta stays at No. 5, Toronto stays at No. 6 and Orlando goes to No. 7.<\/p>\n
![\"Jalen](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/user-expressly-acknowledges-agrees-downloading-125140867.jpg\")
Jalen Brunson of the New York Knicks drives against CJ McCollum of the Atlanta Hawks during the first quarter at State Farm Arena on April 6, 2026 in Atlanta, Georgia. Getty Images<\/p>\n
Unlikely<\/p>\n
The Knicks draw the Magic in the first round<\/p>\n
This happens if on Sunday:<\/p>\n
Brooklyn beats Toronto; Atlanta beats Miami; Orlando beats Boston<\/p>\n
Anything involving the Nets winning Sunday is highly unlikely.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWhat\u2019s happening on and off the Garden court\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for Inside the Knicks by Stefan Bondy, a weekly exclusive on Sports+.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\tThank you\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
The unlikeliest<\/p>\n
The Knicks draw the Sixers in the first round<\/p>\n
This happens if on Sunday:<\/p>\n
Brooklyn beats Toronto; Boston beats Orlando; Philadelphia beats Milwaukee<\/p>\n
Again, the Nets would have to win against a motivated opponent \u2014 the Raptors want to avoid the play-in \u2014 which is hard to envision. Plus, the Celtics are resting their players.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The season finale at MSG means nothing for the Knicks, who are locked into the third seed with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":708685,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3776],"tags":[676,208,3874,7,677,6,11,191,76,207,66,476],"class_list":{"0":"post-708684","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-atlanta-hawks","8":"tag-atlanta","9":"tag-atlanta-hawks","10":"tag-atlantahawks","11":"tag-basketball","12":"tag-hawks","13":"tag-nba","14":"tag-nba-playoffs","15":"tag-new-york-knicks","16":"tag-orlando-magic","17":"tag-philadelphia-76ers","18":"tag-sports","19":"tag-toronto-raptors"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116389896429808859","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/708684","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=708684"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/708684\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/708685"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=708684"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=708684"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=708684"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Og](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/new-york-knicks-forward-og-125404878.jpg\")
Og Anunoby drives to the basket between Toronto Raptors guard A.J. Lawson and Toronto Raptors forward Brandon Ingram during the first quarter in a game against the Toronto Raptors on April 10, 2026. JASON SZENES FOR THE NEW YORK POST<\/p>\n