Knicks' Best Case Scenario for Eastern Conference Standings

The New York Knicks should be hoping for the Eastern Conference standings to fall this way.

Mar 29, 2026; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA; New York Knicks head coach Mike Brown gestures to his team during a play against the Oklahoma City Thunder in the first half at Paycom Center. | Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images

The New York Knicks have never been a team that pays much attention to the standings in terms of potential playoff matchups.

They notoriously didn’t maneuver around the standings a few years ago, with other teams actively trying to avoid first-round matchups against certain opponents. The same is likely to occur this year, but there are certainly opponents the Knicks would prefer to face.

With a few games remaining in the regular season, things could certainly change in the Eastern Conference standings. New York is 2.5 games behind the Boston Celtics, who are the No. 2 seed, and only 1.5 games ahead of the Cleveland Cavaliers, who are the No. 4 seed.

Moving up and getting homecourt advantage through the first two rounds would be ideal, but how the standings are currently is actually the best-case scenario for the Knicks.

Eastern Conference standings might be ideal for Knicks

Mar 8, 2026; Los Angeles, California, USA; New York Knicks guard Josh Hart (3) talks with head coach Mike Brown against the Los Angeles Lakers in the second half at Crypto.com Arena. | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

In the first round, they may very well play against the No. 6 seed Toronto Raptors, who are tied for that spot at the moment with the Philadelphia 76ers. The former represents the best matchup for New York out of the teams that have a chance to still land in that spot in the standings.

The Knicks went 4-0 against Toronto this season, winning every game by double digits. They match up incredibly well against the Raptors, making it incredibly difficult for them to score in every matchup.

The Atlanta Hawks, who are a game-and-a-half ahead of Toronto and Philadelphia, are currently the No. 5 seed and have gone 1-1 against New York. The teams have one more matchup on April 6 in Atlanta.

The Hawks, just like the 76ers and Orlando Magic, the latter of whom is two games out of the No. 6 seed, present some matchup issues that the Knicks would face more difficulties overcoming than anything Toronto presents.

New York split the season series against both the 76ers and Magic and would assuredly have a hard-fought series against them in the first round.

In an ideal world, the Knicks would land in the standings so that they are matched up with the Raptors. Even if that means not having homecourt advantage in the second round, potentially against the Celtics, that wouldn’t be the end of the world.

New York needs to avoid Detroit for as long as possible

Mar 31, 2026; Detroit, Michigan, USA; Detroit Pistons head coach J.B. Bickerstaff (L) talks to Toronto Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic during the second half at Little Caesars Arena. | David Reginek-Imagn Images

New York has already proven capable of winning on the road in the TD Garden after eliminating the Celtics in the 2025 NBA Playoffs.

How things are currently situated in the Eastern Conference is also ideal for the Knicks because it means avoiding the Detroit Pistons until the conference finals.

If there is one team that New York should prioritize avoiding as long as possible in the postseason, it is the Pistons. Detroit has dominated them during the regular season series, going 3-0 with 31, 38 and 15-point victories.

The Knicks have struggled matching the physicality and size of the Pistons, something they could run into against the Hawks, 76ers and Magic as well in a first-round series.

The current standings are about as good an outcome as New York could ask for on its quest for a championship.

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