The Knicks might be up 3-1 on Detroit. But their wins are far from convincing and their fans likely know how this season ends.
As the Sixers season winded down, I wrote about how it felt kind of freeing not to have to worry about a spring of inevitable disappointment from the Sixers or the illusion of hope. Perhaps you’ve been watching the Phillies or are just too nervous about the lottery to even think about anything else related to the NBA. But with the NBA’s first round nearing its conclusion, we wanted to specifically highlight the New York-Detroit series in the Eastern Conference as the kind of series we’re sort of relieved the Sixers aren’t participating in this season.
The Knicks finished this season third in the Eastern Conference with a record of 51-31. The Sixers made the playoffs in seven consecutive seasons prior to 2024-25. Two of them were not full 82-game seasons thanks for COVID-19. In the five full seasons, they won 255 games which averages out to exactly 51 games per season. Of course, we know that the Sixers never made it past the second round in any of these seasons, and they have not made it to the Eastern Conference Finals in 24 seasons. New York’s conference finals drought will reach 25 if it can’t win five more games in this year’s postseason. The Knicks appear poised to square off with the Celtics in the second round, a team they got swept by in four games in the regular season.
It’s not even so much that the Knicks are not in the league’s top tier of teams, but it’s their struggles to beat the teams in the tier below them that make their first-round series with Detroit feel like a Sixers playoff series. New York slots in with Indiana this year as that next tier in the East below Cleveland and Boston and the rest of the playoff teams in the East are in a tier below Indiana. Historically, the first round is supposed to be a cakewalk for true title contenders. It has been for Cleveland and Boston in the East. Oklahoma City was the first team into the second round out West after sweeping Memphis. The first-round wins for the Cavaliers, Celtics and Thunder are all not competitive games.
The Knicks look ready to win their series with the Pistons in five games after taking a 3-1 lead on Sunday with Game 5 back at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night. But, don’t kid yourself, this has been a competitive series with the Pistons for the Knicks. It took a 21-0 run in the fourth quarter of Game 1 for New York to win by 11. After losing Game 2 at home, the Knicks won both games in Detroit by a combined three points. One of the top talking points in the NBA on Sunday and into Monday was the questionable no-call on Josh Hart who appeared to come into contact with Tim Hardaway Jr on a potential game-winning three-pointer for Detroit. A foul call on Hart would have sent Hardaway to the charity stripe, only needing to make two of three free throws to even the series at two games apiece.
When we look back on the playoff series the Sixers did win in the last seven years, we’ll find a lot of similar game scripts. In 2018 and 2019, the first two seasons they made the postseason with Joel Embiid as the franchise player, the Sixers failed to protect home court against Miami and Brooklyn in the first round and left Wells Fargo tied at one game apiece both years. After comfortable wins in Game 3s of both series, Philadelphia escaped with narrow victories in Game 4 both years to go up 3-1 and would close each series out back at Wells Fargo Center in both Game 5s. A couple of different bounces in those two Game 4s and the Sixers are in a pair of series that would have turned into best-of-threes against playoff bottom feeders.
In 2022, the Sixers did protect home court against Toronto to go up 2-0 before heading to Canada. Remember what happened next? Joel Embiid made a buzzer-beater to win the third game in what is sadly his best playoff moment. Then the Sixers went on to lose Game 4 and get clobbered at home in Game 5 before closing it out in six back in Toronto. That was a Raptors team that was slowly in the process of breaking up its 2019 NBA Championship roster and Nick Nurse’s departure soon followed.
As you can see, there were plenty of postseasons in years past in which the Sixers simply did not pass the eye test in the first round. They were not dominant in the first round the way most true contenders are. They had enough talent on the roster to give each of their second-round opponents a run for their money, but ultimately were a tier below those opponents for many of those postseasons. This is why the 2021 second-round defeat at the hands of the Atlanta Hawks is the most embarrassing playoff exit for the Sixers of the recent handful of defeats. There is no doubt Philadelphia was more talented than Atlanta and found a way to lose that series which included three home losses.
Whether the Knicks win in five, six or seven games against the Pistons, they should close the series out now that they hold a commanding 3-1 lead. Then, they will probably lose to the Celtics in five or six games and their season will be over. It’s a script we’ve seen plenty of times before with the Sixers, so if you’re happy not to be doing this same old song and dance again, I don’t blame you.