When the NBA’s regular season schedule resumes on Thursday, the spotlight will swivel to Madison Square Garden, where the Knicks will host the Eastern Conference-leading Pistons, following a pair of blowout losses — by a combined 69 points — in Detroit this season. The potential conference finals preview also marks the Pistons’ first trip to New York since they stole two of three games at the Garden during last season’s first round playoff series.
The first matchup after the All-Star break will also be the start of a grueling 10-game stretch for the Knicks in which they will face eight projected playoff teams — including most of the league’s top title contenders (Oklahoma City, Denver, San Antonio, Houston, Detroit, Cleveland) — perhaps providing a better picture of their prospects this spring.
Despite the Knicks’ status as a top contender in the East, it remains difficult to gauge where they stand among the league’s elite, having entered the All-Star break after alternating an embarrassment in Detroit and a puzzling home loss to the tanking Pacers with blowout wins in Boston and Philadelphia. The Knicks have gone 16-14 against teams over .500, and just 13-13 on the road this season.
It’s also unclear how much seeding and home-court will even matter for the Knicks (35-20) — who are one game up on the Cavaliers for the No. 3 seed and a half-game back of the Celtics for No. 2 — considering the Jalen Brunson-led team has been knocked out by lower-seeded teams in three straight postseasons and also gone 2-0 as the lower-seeded team.
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