Knicks Clinch Playoff Berth but Lose Randle to Injury

Noah K. Murray-NY Post

New York, NY (PSF)— On Sunday April 2nd the New York Knicks beat the Washington Wizards 118-109 to win their 46th game of the season and clinch a playoff berth. The Knicks haven’t been in the playoffs since the 2020-21 season and fans are excited to see their team be good again. Improving their record to 46-33 and fifth place in the Eastern Conference, if the standings stay the same come playoff time the Knicks will face the Cleveland Browns in the first round. The last time the Knicks were in the playoffs they were eliminated by the Atlanta Hawks in five games. Fans hope that the outcome for this year playoffs are different, but with Julius Randle expected to miss the rest of the season due to injury. It looks like history may be repeating itself when it comes to the Knicks playoff performance.

Randle would go down with an ankle injury on Wednesday’s game against the Miami Heat. The injury would come when Randle went for a rebound but rolled his ankle on Heat’s Bam Adebayo foot. The injury was severe enough that Randle was taken out the rest of that game and hasn’t played since. Randle was ruled with an ankle injury and will be evaluated in two weeks effectively shutting down Randle for the regular season. At the time of his injury Randle has missed two games and will miss the final three, which should bring him back in time for the playoffs. This is all speculative as the Knicks hope the NBA All-Star will heal in time for the postseason, which begins on April 15th.

Creator: Dustin Satloff | Credit: Getty Images

So far in the past two games without Randle, point guard Jalen Brunson has step up his production scoring 27 points on Sunday against the Wizards and 48 against the Cavs Friday. Once again Brunson have shown that he worth the contract that the Knicks gave him during the offseason. A contract worth of 104 million for four years which by his play seems undervalue. He overcame scrutiny that he wasn’t worth that much, and deserve much credit for the spot that the Knicks are in. Even if Brunson can somehow achieve another level to play at come playoff time it’s going to be hard even with Randle back.

First Randle must be fully healthy that ankle cannot be bothering him because mention before if the standings stay the same its going to be a tough matchup for the Knicks. The storyline for the first-round matchup would be Donavon Mitchell and the Cavs versus the team Mitchell was destined to go. Right now, around the media it seems that even with the standings Knicks would be favored to win the series as a five seed facing a four seed. Knicks must be careful because that’s exactly what happen last time the Knicks were in the playoffs. In the 2020-21 season Knicks were the favored fourth seed taking on the fifth seed Hawks and we all know what happened.

If the Knicks want to avoid an early exit that repeats history the key is Julius Randle. Yes, fans should show excitement for the Knicks making it back to the playoffs and having a good season, but now its time for the Knicks to make some noise in the playoffs.