Knicks Morning News (2026.04.11)

So here are the possibilities (please correct me if I’m wrong!)
It’s now between ATL, TOR, ORL, and PHI.

If ATL wins, they clinch 5th seed.
If ATL loses and TOR wins, then TOR is 5th and ATL is 6th.
If TOR and ATL both win, then ATL is 5th and TOR is 6th.
If TOR loses, then:
-ATL is 5th
-If ORL wins, ORL is 6th and TOR and PHI are in the play-in
-If PHI wins and ORL loses, PHI is 6th and TOR and ORL are in the play-in
-If both PHI and ORL lose, they are in the play-in and TOR is 6th

and

One correction: if ATL loses and TOR wins, TOR isn’t necessarily the 5th seed and ATL the 6th.

TOR wins the two-way tiebreak with ATL, but an ORL win could create a 3-way tie, in which ATL would come out on top as the 5th seed, because of its status as a division winner. TOR would then prevail over ORL for the 6th.

And an ORL win over the Celtics in Boston on Sunday is very plausible because the Magic have multiple reasons to care and the Celts have none.

This is all making my head hurt. That said, while I wouldn’t love playing Atlanta in the first round, I’d feel pretty confident going into a series against any of the teams still in contention for the 6 seed. This team still has a tendency to play with its food, but we’ve seen lately what they can do when they’re focused — and especially when KAT is focused, both on his own and doing actions with Brunson — and I’d like to think that being in the playoffs will (mostly) make the focus problems go away.