3 Reasons Why the New York Knicks Will Skip the Play-In Tournament

The Knicks are on a Hot Streak

Tiebreakers and home games are all great advantages to have, but the ability to flat-out win is what’s going to propel the Knicks past the play-in tournament. New York is 10-5 over their last 15 games with their losses coming by a razor-thin margin of just 5.6 points per contest, showing that nearly every game is coming down to the wire.

Since the All-Star break, the Knicks are currently shooting 39.1% from three as a team. They’ve crossed the 40% threshold in 11 of their 21 previous games, even hitting the 50% mark on three separate occasions. RJ Barrett, Julius Randle, Reggie Bullock, and Alec Burks are all hitting over 41% of their attempts from behind the arc since All-Star weekend.

It has been over a month since New York has lost by more than 13 points. They’ve allowed less than 100 points in 6 of their past 13 games and they’ve scored at least 110 points in 7 of their previous 9 games.

After struggling a bit in close contests, the team has repeatedly come up clutch in every single one of their 6 consecutive wins. They have shown a resiliency that has kept them in these close games and given them opportunities to win.

The Knicks are racking up victories at the perfect time as they continue to blow away practically every single expectation placed on them at the beginning of the year. If they can captizalize on their home court, pick up some tiebreaker wins and stay hot they should be able to forego the Play-In tournament and head right into the first round of the 2021 NBA Playoffs.