{"id":195057,"date":"2026-04-13T07:06:19","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T07:06:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/195057\/"},"modified":"2026-04-13T07:06:19","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T07:06:19","slug":"knicks-unfazed-by-surprise-playoff-matchup-against-hawks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/195057\/","title":{"rendered":"Knicks unfazed by surprise playoff matchup against Hawks"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Hawks certainly didn\u2019t try to avoid the Knicks.<\/p>\n

They sat most of their starters in their 143-117 loss to the Heat on Sunday night in Miami, despite a win meaning they\u2019d secure the No. 5 seed in the East and first-round matchup with the Cavaliers. With the loss (and a Raptors win, coupled with a Magic loss), the Hawks dropped down to the No. 6 seed, meaning a first-round matchup with the Knicks.<\/p>\n

So, knowing a loss was likely without their main players, the Hawks made it clear they at the very least weren\u2019t overly scared of the Knicks.<\/p>\n

Hawks coach Quin Snyder claimed to be prioritizing health over matchup.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now, I think we\u2019re excited to be in this situation,\u201d Snyder said ahead of the game. \u201cWhoever we play is gonna be really good. It\u2019s hard to even try to figure that out. It\u2019s possible that certain teams wanna play us. The primary thing is for us to be healthy going into the postseason. That\u2019s been the one thing that has been consistent the last few weeks and months \u2014 you don\u2019t know what\u2019s gonna happen. It\u2019s hard to predict all these games, they\u2019re all going on. Wherever it falls is where it falls, and we\u2019ll prepare for the playoffs, regardless of who that is.\u201d<\/p>\n

For their own part, the Knicks didn\u2019t seem bothered by it.<\/p>\n

\"MilesMiles McBride #2 of the New York Knicks reacts to a play during the first half against the Charlotte Hornets at Madison Square Garden on April 12, 2026 in New York City. Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t pay any attention to that,\u201d Jordan Clarkson said. \u201cIt\u2019s just what they wanted to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Added Miles McBride: \u201cHonestly, we just gotta focus on what we gotta do. I think whoever could\u2019ve been the matchup, we\u2019re focused on what we have to do as a team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sunday\u2019s game meant nothing for the Knicks as a whole. But it was a bit meaningful for McBride.<\/p>\n

It was his last chance to re-find his shooting form ahead of the playoffs. McBride had struggled with his shot after returning from sports hernia surgery, which caused him to miss 28 games. In five games before Sunday\u2019s 110-96 loss to the Hornets at Madison Square Garden, McBride shot just 6-for-21 (28.6 percent) from 3-point range.<\/p>\n

But Sunday, McBride went 4-for-7 from deep, scoring 21 points overall in 24 minutes. As one of the only main players in the rotation playing, he had plenty of opportunity to get in a rhythm.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe looked good,\u201d coach Mike Brown said. \u201cIt was good to see him just go play free and take any shot he wanted and be aggressive \u2026 It was good to see the ball go in a few times.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"NewKnicks guard Jordan Clarkson passes the ball over Charlotte Hornets forward Brandon Miller. JASON SZENES FOR THE NEW YORK POST<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWhat\u2019s happening on and off the Garden court\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for Inside the Knicks by Stefan Bondy, a weekly exclusive on Sports+.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\tThank you\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

OG Anunoby\u2019s ankle injury doesn\u2019t seem to be serious.<\/p>\n

Brown said that Anunoby is day to day. Having already locked themselves into the No. 3 seed and with nothing to play for, the Knicks rested four of their five starters (Mikal Bridges started the game to preserve his consecutive games streak, then subbed out) Sunday, including Anunoby.<\/p>\n

But it doesn\u2019t sound like the injury will force Anunoby to miss any time in the playoffs.<\/p>\n

Anunoby suffered the injury during the win over the Raptors at MSG on Friday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Hawks certainly didn\u2019t try to avoid the Knicks. They sat most of their starters in their 143-117…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":195058,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[1262,4779,21,56784,9,24,55,54,1104,56,319],"class_list":{"0":"post-195057","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-city","8":"tag-atlanta-hawks","9":"tag-miles-mcbride","10":"tag-nba","11":"tag-nba-playoffs","12":"tag-new-york","13":"tag-new-york-city","14":"tag-new-york-city-headlines","15":"tag-new-york-city-news","16":"tag-new-york-knicks","17":"tag-ny","18":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195057","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=195057"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195057\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/195058"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=195057"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=195057"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=195057"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}