The reality of the situation stinks, to be blunt. With 14 games remaining, the Knicks are five games back in the loss column from the eighth and final playoff spot. And April provides a potentially brutal schedule.
So forget all that. The Knicks instead chose to bathe in the glow of a seven-game winning streak that has made the unthinkable — the mere possibility of the playoffs — thinkable. They revel in the hiring of Phil Jackson as team president, viewed as a franchise moment ranking with news that Indiana would pick second in the 1985 NBA lottery.
Yes, there is excitement, energy surrounding the Knicks amid the grim reality.
“You can see it in our games, the way we’re playing, and our attitude … the focus that we’re playing with, the energy,” Carmelo Anthony said. “It’s something that we haven’t been playing with all season long. These last couple of weeks we’ve been playing with that focus, that energy, that hunger. … Your backs get against the wall, you’ve got to just do what you have to do to win games.”
And to impress the new boss. Jackson was on hand Wednesday when the Knicks stunned the East-leading Pacers, 92-86, for a seventh straight victory. Friday in Philadelphia, they play the gosh-awful Sixers, losers of 22 straight. More cause for positive thinking.
“We don’t want to have to look at the teams that are in front of us,” Anthony said. “We pay attention [to the standings]. It’s only natural. … But we got to focus on what we have to focus on, which is us right now.”
And whatever you do, don’t look back and have regrets. Had the Knicks played this way from the start — and yes, there were injuries and other circumstances, such as J.R. Smith’s season-starting five-game suspension — the whole situation would not look as grim.
“Basketball is a fine line between winning and losing. It’s about confidence, belief in each other, and playing together,” Tyson Chandler said. “If you’re not going to play together as a team it’s really hard to win. And we were playing as individuals early in the season. It wasn’t on purpose, that’s just the way we are. Now we’re playing together, coming together, really understanding each other. Really playing for one another.”
The biggest problem the Knicks face is the cruelest four-letter word: time. They need to crawl out of a largely self-imposed ditch during March Madness and not during January White Sales.
So while the playoffs are possible, not probable, the Knicks want to soak in any positive energy resulting from current events — Jackson’s arrival, the winning streak. They can’t anticipate a franchise-changing player from the lottery should their playoff hopes fall short. But that’s a story for another day.