CBS take
2024 NBA playoffs: Knicks, Tom Thibodeau pass on tanking for easier first-round matchup
This is going to come off as disrespectful to the
Indiana Pacers, and perhaps it is, but the simple fact is that a higher seed in the
NBA playoffs is not always a good thing.
Case in point: The
New York Knicks are the Eastern Conference's No. 2 seed after defeating the
Chicago Bulls in overtime on Sunday, which means a first-round matchup with either the
Philadelphia 76ers or
Miami Heat. Had New York, shall we say,
allowed the Chicago game slip through its fingers down the stretch, it would have been the No. 3 seed and set to play the Pacers in the first round.
Again, perhaps it's disrespectful to the Pacers to suggest they represent an easier series than the Sixers or Heat, but a case surely can be made. That is even with plenty of people suggesting they have a real shot to upset Milwaukee in the No. 3 vs. No. 6 series. The Sixers with
Joel Embiid were a top-shelf contender, and he has hit the ground running in his return. The Heat are, well, the Heat. If you want any part of them in a playoff series, you're a masochist.
The league tries to avoid this sort of seed manipulation by scheduling all these games at the same time on the final day of the season. But midway through the fourth quarter, the Knicks knew that Cleveland and the
Bucks had both lost and Orlando had won, which secured the Cavs into No. 4 and the
Magic into No. 5. The only thing left to be determined was Nos. 2 and 3, and it rode entirely on New York's outcome.
So, again, they could've, you know, missed a few shots they might've ordinarily made (though I'm not sure
Donte DiVincenzo could miss if he tried, to be fair), or even played a little more relaxed defense on
DeMar DeRozan on potential game-winners at the end of regulation and overtime.
But that's not how Tom Thibodeau and these Knicks roll.
"Competitors compete. It doesn't matter if it's a game, if it's 1 on 1, if it's a shooting game, if it's dominoes, if it's some crazy podcast... they compete," Thibodeau said. "You don't have to wind these guys up. And that's what I love about them. We're not going to be perfect, but they're going to compete."
What's interesting is the
Cleveland Cavaliers were in a similar position. They entered the fourth quarter of their game against the
Hornets with an eight-point lead, and J.B. Bickerstaff chose to keep his starters on the bench for the entire fourth quarter.
They lost the fourth quarter by 16 points, and the game by 10, and they now will play the Magic in the No. 4 vs. No. 5 matchup when a victory, knowing Milwaukee had lost, would've put them at No. 3 for a first-round series with Indiana.