{"id":709474,"date":"2026-04-13T06:48:35","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T06:48:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/709474\/"},"modified":"2026-04-13T06:48:35","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T06:48:35","slug":"knicks-get-stuck-with-tougher-playoff-opponent-after-losing-meaningless-regular-season-finle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/709474\/","title":{"rendered":"Knicks get stuck with tougher playoff opponent after losing meaningless regular season finle"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"An<\/p>\n

An image collage containing 2 images, Image 1 shows New York Knicks guard Jose Alvarado defends against Charlotte Hornets guard LaMelo Ball during a game, Image 2 shows New York Knicks player Jeremy Sochan shoots the ball as Charlotte Hornets player Miles Bridges jumps to block the shot<\/p>\n

The Knicks lost twice Sunday.<\/p>\n

After dropping their meaningless regular-season finale, the Knicks learned their first-round opponent will be the Hawks instead of the Raptors.<\/p>\n

On paper, that\u2019s a tougher series for the Knicks. They went 2-1 against the Hawks in the regular season \u2014 winning a pair of close games in Atlanta while getting blown out at home \u2014 sometimes struggling to deal with Atlanta\u2019s athleticism.<\/p>\n

Conversely, the Knicks dominated the Raptors this season \u2014 going 5-0 \u2014 and would\u2019ve been a solid bet to overwhelm Toronto in five games or fewer.<\/p>\n

The Knicks, who finished with a 53-29 record after Sunday\u2019s 110-96 loss to the Hornets, are still favored against the Hawks, but it\u2019s a tougher matchup.<\/p>\n

Plus, the Hawks clearly aren\u2019t scared of the Knicks after resting their top players in a blowout loss Sunday to the Heat. If the Hawks had beaten Miami, they would\u2019ve faced the Cavs in the first round.<\/p>\n

\"Charlotte<\/p>\n

Charlotte Hornets guard LaMelo Ball defends against New York Knicks guard Jose Alvarado during the second half at Madison Square Garden in New York, New York, USA, Sunday, April 12, 2026. JASON SZENES FOR THE NEW YORK POST<\/p>\n

Instead, Hawks coach Quin Snyder said he prioritized health, and he got the Knicks.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe primary thing is for us to be healthy going into the postseason,\u201d Snyder said.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a rematch of the 2021 first round, although without former Garden villain Trae Young, who was traded midseason to the Wizards.<\/p>\n

This time, Jalen Johnson, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, CJ McCollum and Dyson Daniels are the biggest threats to New York. They\u2019re young and dangerous.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re a great team. I\u2019m looking forward to the matchup,\u201d Knicks guard Miles McBride said. \u201cThey are a team that defends really well. They\u2019ve got guys who can go get a bucket on the offensive end, but their team defense is really something challenging. So, it\u2019s going to be an exciting playoff series.\u201d<\/p>\n

The series also required a surprising result elsewhere.<\/p>\n

The Celtics, who were locked into the second seed and sat their top players, shocked the Magic in the second half of their 113-108 victory Sunday. It left a two-way tie for fifth in the East, and the Raptors won the tiebreaker over the Hawks because of head-to-head results.<\/p>\n

\"Knicks<\/p>\n

Knicks forward Jeremy Sochan puts up a shot as Charlotte Hornets forward Miles Bridges jumps to defend during the second half at Madison Square Garden. JASON SZENES FOR THE NEW YORK POST<\/p>\n

The final East standings became:<\/p>\n

1. Pistons, 2. Celtics, 3. Knicks, 4. Cavs, 5. Raptors, 6. Hawks, 7. Sixers, 8. Magic, 9. Hornets, 10. Heat.<\/p>\n

The Knicks were locked into the third seed before Sunday\u2019s results and thus rested most of their playoff rotation. The only active regular starter was Mikal Bridges, who logged 23 seconds to maintain his consecutive games played streak.<\/p>\n

McBride (21 points) and Jordan Clarkson (two points, 15 minutes) were the other top nine players. Jose Alvarado (16 points) and Mohamed Diawara (5 points) each logged 34 minutes. Diawara, the rookie, shot 0-for-5 from deep.<\/p>\n

More significant to the Knicks were the results outside MSG, which left coach Mike Brown unaware of his playoff opponent until after his postgame news conference Sunday. The reason? The Celtics-Magic game was prolonged as a national TV broadcast.<\/p>\n

\u201cAtlanta\u2019s a good team. Everybody\u2019s good,\u201d Brown said while being careful with his words, knowing he might still face the Raptors. \u201cEveryone is going to pose challenges. I don\u2019t know who we\u2019re gonna play, but we\u2019re gonna face different challenges from everybody because everybody is special at this time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Regardless, the Knicks have already been scouting potential playoff opponents. Brown said he anticipates breaking down film of the Hawks with his players Tuesday or Wednesday.<\/p>\n

They\u2019ll get almost a week off during the play-in tournament, and then it\u2019s Game 1 against the lively Hawks.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust a really good team,\u201d Clarkson said. \u201cThey\u2019re led by Nickeil. He\u2019s been playing great all year. They made some trades at the deadline and got CJ McCollum [for Young]. Down the line they are a really good team. So it\u2019s going to be an exciting series.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An image collage containing 2 images, Image 1 shows New York Knicks guard Jose Alvarado defends against Charlotte…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":709475,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3777],"tags":[676,7,136,46,684,473,3878,7046,206,677,685,2990,2724,2131,11053,304,966,1634,295,1260,10510,2715,17348,6,379,2986,96,5311,6834,680,494,683],"class_list":{"0":"post-709474","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-charlotte-hornets","8":"tag-atlanta","9":"tag-basketball","10":"tag-cavs","11":"tag-celtics","12":"tag-charlotte","13":"tag-charlotte-hornets","14":"tag-charlottehornets","15":"tag-cj-mccollum","16":"tag-dyson-daniels","17":"tag-hawks","18":"tag-hornets","19":"tag-jalen-johnson","20":"tag-jeremy-sochan","21":"tag-jordan-clarkson","22":"tag-jose-alvarado","23":"tag-knicks","24":"tag-lamelo-ball","25":"tag-madison-square-garden","26":"tag-miami","27":"tag-mikal-bridges","28":"tag-miles-bridges","29":"tag-miles-mcbride","30":"tag-mohamed-diawara","31":"tag-nba","32":"tag-nickeil-alexander-walker","33":"tag-quin-snyder","34":"tag-sixers","35":"tag-the-celtics","36":"tag-the-raptors","37":"tag-toronto","38":"tag-trae-young","39":"tag-wizards"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/709474","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=709474"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/709474\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/709475"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=709474"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=709474"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=709474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}