Last year showed that regular-season results often aren’t the greatest indicator of how playoff matchups will go. The Knicks went 1-3 against the Pistons and 0-4 against the Celtics and later eliminated both in the first and second round, respectively. Conversely, they went 2-1 against the Pacers, who eliminated them in the conference finals.
The playoffs are a whole different animal.
The Knicks went 2-1 against the Hawks in the regular season, winning a nail-biter in their final meeting earlier this month. Notably, though, the Hawks have been a completely different team following the first two matchups after trading away Trae Young and changing their team identity.
For their own part, the Knicks showed differing versions of themselves as the regular season unfolded.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
