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Nothing was more important than the Nets.Shortly after the first-round playoff matchup with the Pistons was set, the Knicks had other things on their minds, having matched their worst losing streak of the season.It began Tuesday, when the Knicks fumbled an opportunity to knock off the reigning champs, losing their lead to the Celtics in the final seconds of regulation and the game in overtime.Two days later, the Knicks blew a 13-point second-half lead in Detroit.
On Friday, the Knicks coughed up a 23-point lead to the Cavaliers.So what if Sunday’s regular-season finale in Brooklyn has no impact on the playoff seeding? So what if it comes against one of the league’s worst teams?The Knicks are in no position to treat any minutes as meaningless.“We’ll talk about [the playoffs] once all 82 games are played,” Jalen Brunson said after Friday’s loss.“We gotta go into this next game with the right mentality, the right mindset and have a short-term memory.
You can’t let things like this linger on.It’s important to have a short-term memory right now and just continue to move forward.
I know it’s tough.I know it sounds like it’s B.S., but it’s literally what we have to do right now in order for us to be better.“We got one more game to go, and then we can talk about all that.”After facing the top two teams in the Eastern Conference and their upcoming playoff opponent, the Knicks (50-31) have the right matchup to rediscover their confidence.The Nets (26-55) have lost all three meetings with the Knicks this season and have gone 5-20 since Feb.
22, regularly running out a youthful, inexperienced lineup that only Brooklyn diehards could accurately identify.The Knicks have gone 35-8 against teams with a losing record this season.This will be their last chance for another layup — and their 51st win of the season, which would mark the most by the franchise in a dozen years — before Game 1 against the Pistons next weekend at Madison Square Garden.�...