George Willis

George Willis

NBA

Knicks realize they ‘have to win’ final game before break

Since when has a game against the Kings meant so much to the Knicks? Maybe when Chris Webber was playing, but even then their annual visit to the Garden wasn’t considered a must win. But Wednesday night’s match-up against Sacramento might be as important as any the Knicks have played all season. At least that’s the way the Knicks sound.

“We’ve got to win. We have to win,” Carmelo Anthony said on Tuesday. “Nothing more than that. We have to win.”

Anthony’s sense of urgency is understandable. It’s an important game because the Knicks not only need to earn a much-needed victory, but it also will ease the team’s mental stress heading into the All-Star break. It has been a very taxing season since a 3-13 start put them in an early hole. Since then, the Knicks have been under pressure to stay relevant in the NBA Eastern Conference standings. Gone are the lofty expectations of defending their Atlantic Division title and nobody is predicting an NBA championship.

The Knicks at 20-31 are focusing on small steps now, which is why a game against Sacramento is so important. The Kings are the bottom feeders in the Western Conference’s Pacific Division, owning a 17-34 ledger heading into Tuesday night’s game at Cleveland.

It would be one thing to lose to the Heat or the Pacers before the break. But the Knicks struggles only will be magnified by a loss to the lowly Kings.

“We have no room for error,” Knicks coach Mike Woodson said after putting his team through a rugged practice session on Tuesday. “Sacramento is the next team we have to play and it’s an important game going into the All-Star break because it still keeps us in the hunt in terms of where we’re trying to get as a team.”

Currently, two games out of the eighth and final playoff spot in the East, the Knicks can’t afford to lose to bad teams at the Garden and have any chance of doing anything this year. Making the playoffs looks doable on paper. But the Nets (23-26) are playing much better basketball and could move up from their current seventh seed, and the Bobcats and Pistons also are battling for the eighth spot.

“It should be a race to the finish line,” Woodson said.

Perhaps as important, the Knicks need to beat the Kings to feel good about themselves during the break. The Knicks are 11-10 in January, but just 5-9 since Jan. 14, and it has renewed speculation Woodson might be fired. It appears he will survive for now, but his players have grown weary of the media’s constant questioning of their coach’s status. Beat the Kings and the Knicks won’t have to speculate on the Woodson watch until they begin preparing for a Feb. 18 game at Memphis, the first of a four-game road trip. It’s part of a stretch that will see them play 19 of their final 30 games on the road.

“It’s definitely been and up-and-down season for us,” Tyson Chandler said. “But at this point, we can’t control anything that’s happened in the past. We have to focus on trying to get better and trying to jump up into one of those playoff spots.”

Woodson would like to think the Knicks are playing their best basketball of late. He points to the increased production in the team’s 3-point scoring (11.2 made over the last 10 games versus 7.0 in the previous 10) and one-sided wins against the Bobcats, Celtics, Cavaliers and Nuggets that have balanced blowout losses to the Pacers, Nets, and Heat.

“We’re playing better,” Woodson said. “We’ve just got to put some wins together. That’s what it comes down to.”

The Knicks will settle for one win for now; a must win against the Kings.