• Thu. Mar 28th, 2024

MILWAUKEE, W.I. – The New York Knicks (26-39) suffered their third loss in four games Wednesday night. The Milwaukee Bucks defeated New York 104-93, and pushed the Knicks down to 5.5 games out of the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

With just 17 games remaining, the Knicks have no margin for error and need a lot of help from other teams in the East. Right now the Detroit Pistons and Chicago Bulls both have 31-33 records, and hold the last two playoff seeds. New York would need a meltdown from both teams, and would have to jump the Miami HeatCharlotte Hornets, and Bucks.

(Photo Credit: Gary Dineen/Getty Images) New York's loss to the Bucks pushed the Knicks further out of the playoff picture.
(Photo Credit: Gary Dineen/Getty Images) New York’s loss to the Bucks pushed themselves further out of the playoff picture.

Wednesday night Chicago, Charlotte, and Detroit lost which meant New York blew a golden opportunity to make up serious ground. The Knicks obviously can’t scoreboard watch, but have to have a must win mentality from here on out. Playing Milwaukee was a huge opportunity in itself, with the Bucks also being in the playoff hunt.

Out of the 17 games remaining on the Knick schedule, eight of the games are against teams with records above .500. New York play the Heat and Pistons twice, which are must win games if they have hopes of jumping both teams. The Knicks play their crosstown rival Brooklyn Nets twice, which should help but still are not guaranteed wins. Brooklyn has been playing much better, having got Jeremy Lin back off injury.

Willy Hernangomez played well in Milwaukee, tallying a double double (13 points, 12 rebounds). The Knicks next game will be Saturday afternoon against the Pistons in Detroit. New York will need another strong performance from Hernangomez to neutralize Andre Drummond, and make this playoff push more of a reality than a possibility.

Barry Holmes is a Senior Writer for PureSportsNY.com. Follow him on Twitter @BHO732

(Featured Photo Credit: Barry Holmes/PureSportsNY)

 

 

 

By Barry Holmes

Graduate of Millersville University, with a BS in Communications focused in Broadcast. Senior Writer & Social Media Manager for PureSportsNY.

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