The Raptors don’t have anything to play for tonight, while Thibs has the very important “Winning record through two seasons as a Knicks coach” record to play for tonight, so expect the Knicks to pull this one out.
That could be a problem, because the New Orleans Pelicans have locked up the #9 seed in the Western Conference and CJ McCollum has already tweeted (and then deleted) a tweet that suggested he won’t be playing much tonight, so the Pelicans (who are currently tied with the Knicks for the 11th worst record in the NBA) will quite possibly lose tonight against the Warriors, and thus a Knick win would send the Knicks towards their destiny, the 12th pick. However, a loss and a Pellies win would make the Knicks the default 11th pick and hell, even a split (where both the Knicks and the Pellies have the same result) would still leave the Knicks tied for the 11th, which is sadly a lot better than I ever expected, so that’s something!
Let’s go, someone!