Circumstances can change and make even the seemingly impossible look somehow feasible. Cameras in telephones? There was a time folks would have asked how you can take a picture with the phone in the cradle. Or on the wall.
And far more recently, the thought of the Knicks in the playoffs seemed even more preposterous.
See? There are things happening in the Knicks world that are not directly tied to Phil Jackson.
Making the playoffs remains a tough task, but it is far more realistic than it seemed one week ago. A victory last week in Minnesota changed everything and kick-started the four-game winning streak the Knicks carry into Boston Wednesday.
“Everybody’s really just focusing on the fact that we don’t want the season to be over, we don’t want to go home for the season,” point guard Raymond Felton said. “Everybody’s really locking in and keying in on each and every possession and just trying to play and win.”
What the Knicks have done to fuel their playoff aspirations is beat the cellar dwellers of the NBA world. They followed up the Timberwolves victory by beating an awful Utah team, not-as-bad-as-the-Jazz Cleveland and even-worse Philadelphia.
The Knicks are in 10th place in the Eastern Conference, 3 ½ games behind Atlanta and one game in the loss column behind Detroit. The immediate road is lined with more cupcakes — with a Pacers detour involved — but then April becomes far tougher, so the Knicks must take advantage when opportunity — or a patsy — is present.
“We still have a ways to go, but we’re slowly chipping away,” said Amar’e Stoudemire, a huge inside presence in dealing the Sixers their 17th straight defeat Monday when Tyson Chandler was out because of personal reasons. “We’re still 3 ½ games out of the eighth seed. Just got to keep winning.”
It was not known if Chandler will play in Boston, but the Knicks know their task, with or without their center.
“One game at a time,” Carmelo Anthony said. “Something I have been saying all year long, especially now. It is not something we can look forward to next week or the week after. We got to look forward to one game at a time. Our next opponent is Boston and got to take care of that first.
“Boston always, despite their record, is a team that when we play them they tend to get up for the game. We will be excited for that game. They beat us twice. We will be excited about that. It’s Boston.”
Of the remaining 17 games for the 25-40 Knicks, just seven are at the Garden, and seven are against teams with losing records. They must gain ground when playing Boston, Milwaukee, Philadelphia, Cleveland, the Lakers and Sacramento (with the Pacers sidestep in that mix). After the schedule lull, nine of the final 10 games are against playoff-bound teams.
“It’s been a tough situation, a tough season, all we can do right now is not even worry about the record, just worry about these last [17] games that we have, go and get on a streak and just try to go out and finish the season and whatever happens, happens,” Tim Hardaway Jr. said. “But we definitely want to make a push and get in to the playoffs.”