The Westchester Knicks are essentially mirroring the New York Knicks. Are the playoff hopes slipping away from Westchester?
With the end of the season nearing, the Westchester Knicks sit at 16-22 and are five games out of the final playoff spot. Four teams sit ahead of Westchester: the Delaware 87ers, Canton Charge, Grand Rapids Drive, and Windy City Bulls.
Westchester is currently in the midst of a five-game road trip, which is also their last major road trip of the season. On their road trip, the Knicks will face off against three playoff teams: Fort Wayne Mad Ants, Canton Charge and Maine Red Claws).
The Knicks suffered a tough loss in Fort Wayne on Friday. The Dub Knicks will need to rebound quick if they plan to keep the pace in the Eastern Conference.
For the Knicks, the team will need to put together a stretch of wins. The team hasn’t won back-to-back games since December (Dec. 16 and Dec. 18) and they will be looking to do that against potential playoff teams.
In order to achieve that, the little things need to be accomplished.
“Focus. Concentration. Execution. Box out. Things like that,” Westchester guard Courtney Fells said. “The smaller details is what we need more in order to accomplish the big picture and that’s winning games. If we can’t take care of the small things then we’re definitely not going to put ourselves in the position to win.”
The Knicks battle the Red Claws in back-to-back games in Maine. In their two meetings this season, the Knicks have had two different outcomes. Westchester had one of their best defensive performances in their first meeting against Maine.
The Knicks held the Red Claws to a season-low 78 points and picked up a 27-point victory over their division foe.
The Knicks will need their defense to step up against the No. 1 3-point shooting team. In their two meetings this year, the Knicks have held the Red Claws to 88.5 points per game. When the two teams meet on Mar. 9, Maine will be playing their third game in five nights and fourth game in March.
After starting the season 22-12, the Red Claws are 1-4 in their last five games.
In their final game of the road trip, the Knicks return to New York to battle the Long Island Nets. Since the start of February, the Nets are 3-6, which includes three losses by at least 18 points.
On the other hand, Long Island owns a victory over Westchester in their lone, “Battle of the Burbs,” meeting.
The Knicks had a great start to that game as they had a 15-point lead in the first quarter, but the Nets rebounded in the second quarter by posting 44 points.
While two of the Knicks’ starters (Damien Inglis and Chasson Randle) were in foul trouble, the team got key contributions from Fells and Keith Wright.
Fells recorded 21 points, six rebounds, five assists, and two steals on 3-of-8 shooting from beyond the arc. Wright posted one of his five double-doubles (15 points and 10 rebounds) against the Nets.
Before their meeting on Mar. 14, the Nets, like the Knicks, face off against multiple potential playoff teams (the Rio Grande Valley Vipers and Oklahoma City Blue) on the road. Coming off of a West Coast trip, the Knicks may have a good chance on picking up a victory over Long Island.
With 12 games left in the season, there’s a sense of urgency for the Westchester Knicks.
“The sense of urgency is there for that. But at the same time, you never know what can happen,” Fells said. “Anything can happen in this league. We just have to stay with it and hopefully we can put ourselves in a better position to possibly make the playoffs. We can’t be winning and lose; win and lose. If we do that, then the season is over just like that. We got to at least try to put at least four together before we lose one.”
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During their five-game road trip, the Westchester Knicks will need to put together a streak of win if they still have playoff aspirations.