With a little less than two weeks left in the NBA regular season, the New York Knicks still sit in the No. 3 spot in the East, meaning they'd play the No. 6 seed in the first round of the playoffs. The Hawks currently occupy that spot, but they have just a half-game lead over the No. 7 Sixers, a team that is hitting their stride at the right time.
Listen, this isn't to say New York can't beat Philadelphia in the first round, but aside from rookie Johni Broome, the Sixers have a clean injury report. They've won six of their last eight games, with their two losses coming against the Thunder and Nuggets. Their most recent win came against the red-hot Hornets, a team that cruised past the Knicks two days earlier.
Sixers are starting to click at the right time
Tyrese Maxey returned for Philly in the win over Charlotte after he missed the past few weeks with a finger injury. He had 26 points on 10-of-18 shooting, eight assists, seven rebounds, one block, and one steal in 43 minutes.
Paul George, who returned from a 25-game suspension in the Sixers' March 25 win over the Bulls, had 28 points versus Chicago and 26 against Charlotte. He had four steals in each game. The soon-to-be 36-year-old hasn't looked his age. He's way more engaged defensively. George used the suspension as a rest advantage.
Philadelphia's biggest question mark will always be Joel Embiid's knees, but he's looked dominant himself since returning on March 25. He shot 12-of-17 for 35 points against the Bulls and 8-of-19 for 29 points versus the Hornets.
You can't forget about the rookie VJ Edgecombe, who is averaging 16.1 points per game on the season.
When you mix the Sixers' top players with their depth (Kelly Oubre Jr. is also back!), they're not a team you want to have a run-in with in the first round.
Knicks could be headed toward another showdown against Sixers
New York's ideal first-round matchup would be Toronto, which sits in fifth with a half-game lead over Atlanta. The Raptors went on a miraculous 31-0 run over the Magic on Sunday, so vibes are high in Canada right now, but they're wildly inconsistent.
The good news (and bad, I guess) is that the No. 6 Hawks have the fifth toughest remaining schedule in the league, per Tankathon. The Sixers have the 15th, while the Raptors have the 20th. Based on that, there's a real chance Atlanta will fall outside of the top six, leaving Philly and Toronto to fight for the fifth and sixth spots.
If the Sixers can stay healthy (you never know with them), they could even secure the No. 5 seed, although the Raptors' schedule is slightly more favorable than theirs. If so, and Cleveland holds at No. 4, that will set up a Cavaliers-Sixers first-round series. Or the Knicks could drop to fourth (a real possibility given their remaining schedule) and still meet Philly.
There are several directions this could all go for New York, but among the No. 5-10 spots, the Sixers stand out the most as the team to avoid. Yes, that includes the Hornets, who have genuinely been one of the best teams in the league in the second half of the season, but they don't have the playoff experience that Philadelphia does.
The Knicks' battle to return to the conference finals, and to make it a step past that, will be far from easy, regardless of who they face. Part of that could mean taking down the Sixers in the first round, as they did a couple of years ago, but avoiding seeing them altogether would be nice, too!