No better way to impress the new basketball boss than to go out and beat the best basketball team in the conference.
So go ahead Knicks, impress the heck out of Phil Jackson against the Eastern Conference leading Pacers Wednesday at the Garden.
“Every game is a test at this point,” said coach Mike Woodson, who will sit down with new team president Jackson at season’s end. “Indiana being the best team in the East record-wise, we lost a tough one in our building to them a couple of months ago, so it will be another big test for our ball club to see where we are.”
Where the Knicks are right now is in a less-than-enviable position, up the proverbial estuary without the proper means of locomotion. More precisely, despite a season-high six-game winning streak they are putting at risk against the 50-17 Pacers, the Knicks are 4 ¹/₂ games behind the Hawks for the eighth and final Eastern playoff spot.
And while possible, it’s is looking like the only playoff basketball in New York in late April will occur in Brooklyn.
Atlanta is 31-35 after their 118-113 overtime victory over the Raptors Tuesday night. Should the Hawks finish playing 46 percent, they would have a 38-44 record. The 27-40 Knicks, currently without the tie-breaker against the Hawks (based on conference record), would have to go 12-3 over their final 15 games to top that.
Hey, that would surely impress Jackson, who said Tuesday at his New York coronation he plans to meet the team before the game.
“We’re playing our best basketball right now. So as far as keeping it going, [we’re] just trying to build on what we started so far,” said Carmelo Anthony, who “no doubt … is in the future plans” of the Knicks, according to Jackson.
In succession, the Knicks have throttled the so-so Timberwolves, the awful Jazz, the not-so-hot Cavs, the outright atrocious Sixers, the horrible Celtics and the worst-of-the-worst Bucks, all by double digits, beating them by a combined 107 points. After the major detour through the Pacers, the Knicks will resume on their Bum of the Night Club path facing those Sixers and Cavs before visiting the wretched Lakers and pretty pathetic Kings. And that will end the trip of dreams.
The Knicks will close the season with a 10-game run that includes eight games against definite playoff teams, one possible (Suns) and one cupcake (Utah).
So the Pacers present not just a test to the streak, but a test to the season. The Pacers already have beaten the Knicks twice this season, surviving a 103-96 overtime game at the Garden Nov. 20 and then pounding them, 117-89, in Indiana Jan. 16.
“I don’t think that’s an indication of anything. We want to go in there and we want to win, but I don’t think it’s an indication of do-or-die against Indiana,” Anthony said. “We want to win and that’s how we’re approaching this game.”
Figure focus will be heightened after the pregame meeting with Jackson, who may ask them to win one for the Gipper or Michael or Kobe or their own jobs.
“I will be visiting the team this week, before the game on Wednesday against Indiana,” Jackson said. “I had a conversation with Mike Woodson supporting him and going forward to try to make the playoffs this year. The team has had a little run and we are anticipating it is going to be a good one and that they will be able to make the playoffs.”