Knicks Insider Speculates New York Could Be Trying to Manipulate Postseason Bracket

The New York Knicks are in a great spot entering the NBA playoffs. They sit at 50-29 with three games left to play, and they are locked into the third or fourth seed in the Eastern Conference playoff bracket.

However, the end of the season isn't as simple as it may seem. The Knicks finish the season against the Detroit Pistons, the Cleveland Cavaliers, and the Brooklyn Nets.

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One of their potential first-round opponents is the Pistons, who currently sit in the sixth seed. Their other potential opponent is the Milwaukee Bucks, who, while they have Giannis Antetokounmpo leading the team, Damian Lillard is dealing with an injury, and the rest of the roster isn't the greatest.

Heading into Thursday night's matchup with the Pistons, the Knicks are sitting some key players. Josh Hart, OG Anunoby, and Mitchell Robinson have all been ruled out. None of those players are the stars of the team, but all are key role players that the team will be relying on in the playoffs.

That has led Knicks insider James L. Edwards III from The Athletic to question what their true motivations are.

As he laid out, the Pistons can jump up to the fifth seed, with the Knicks needing to lose to them to make that happen. If the Pistons beat Milwaukee in their last two games, they would pass the Bucks in the standings, putting the Bucks in the sixth spot.

The Knicks have a similar condition to the Pacers involving the third and fourth seeds. That means if the Knicks wanted to face the Bucks in the first round, the best way to do that would be to lose to the Pistons, then win one of their remaining games and hope the Bucks fall to sixth.

An alternative theory that could make sense is that the Knicks would prefer the fourth seed.

If they lose their remaining games and the Pacers win their remaining games, the Knicks would fall to the fourth seed. As of now, that would also mean they face the Bucks, so they would instead be relying on the Bucks not to lose both games rather than the Pistons to win both games.

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This all seems like pure speculation, but it is entirely possible the Knicks view their ideal playoff bracket scenario as getting the fourth seed to face the fifth-seeded Bucks and avoiding the reigning champion Boston Celtics in the second round. The top-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers are also scary, but they aren't the reigning champs.

No matter how the Knicks are viewing the last three games of the season, it is interesting to look at how much control they have over the middle of the Eastern Conference playoff bracket.

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