It seems like the New York Knicks might just get out of playing any of the teams that were starting to scare fans as first-round opponents. The Philadelphia 76ers, despite Joel Embiid's recent appendectomy, have been heating up at the right time of the year. The Charlotte Hornets just beat New York head-to-head.
The Knicks, however, look like they're going to be playing either the Atlanta Hawks or Toronto Raptors in the first round of this year's Eastern Conference Playoffs. ESPN's Tim Bontemps took a look at the standings out East, determining after the team's Thursday night win over the Boston Celtics that they're most likely to need hotels in Atlanta or Toronto to get the 2026 postseason started.
Knicks look set to face Raptors or Hawks, according to ESPN reporter
Even though the road team was without All-Star Jaylen Brown, New York gutted out an impressive win over Boston on Thursday night at Madison Square Garden. After the game, the Hoop Collective co-host and longtime scribe Tweeted that the Knicks had seemingly avoided a first-round matchup against Philadelphia or Charlotte.
"New York will essentially get a chance to control its opponent for the first round. If Toronto wins tomorrow here, it’s very likely to be Knicks-Hawks. If New York wins tomorrow here, it’s very likely to be Knicks-Raptors," Bontemps posted after the game.
This is good news for the Knicks, relatively speaking. While both teams have the length and physicality to give New York's biggest stars some trouble on both ends of the court, recent history is firmly in the favor of Mike Brown and his squad.
Knicks have already swept the Raptors, in a way
New York just dispatched Atlanta in a narrow escape of a victory on Monday, highlighted by superstar point guard Jalen Brunson reprising his role as "Captain Clutch" in the fourth quarter. The Knicks have also beaten Toronto in all four of the games they've played against each other thus far by double digits, or more.
That included an NBA Cup game in early December, where the squads competed for a spot as one of four teams that would head to Las Vegas for the Cup Semifinals.
While the game itself between the Knicks and Raptors wasn't in an actual playoff environment, it was well known that each member of a Cup Semifinalist would be awarded over $50,000 more of prize money than those that were eliminated.
New York has an opportunity to beat Toronto for a fifth time on Friday, which Bontemps says would effectively secure a matchup between the teams in the first round. But even if they don't, 4-1 is still good enough to win a series.