The reality of the situation is you probably had a better chance of hitting that recent $1 billion Powerball lottery than the Knicks have of making the playoffs.
But until the mathematicians say so, the Knicks, especially with interim coach Kurt Rambis directing traffic, will continue operating like postseason participation is a mere rebound, steal or dunk away.
And Friday against Orlando, in a 108-95 victory at the Garden, just their third win in 16 games, the Knicks played as if there were much more than pride at stake.
“Defensively, I thought we did a good job coming out the gate, sticking to the plan, protecting our paint. Offensively it seemed like we had some flow,” said Carmelo Anthony (19 points, 11 rebounds), one of seven Knicks who scored in double figures.
“Guys felt comfortable, confident out there on the offensive end. Our defense really turned it over to the offensive end, kind of gave us some momentum.”
With a size and strength advantage offsetting Orlando’s quickness, the Knicks (25-35) gave the Magic indigestion of the worst sort. Beforehand, Magic coach Scott Skiles called the game “a must win.” After the loss, Skiles labeled it a “go through the motions type of game.”
The Knicks, meanwhile, went through the Magic (26-32) in every way.
“The major emphasis was scrambling on defense to help one another,” said Robin Lopez (14 points). “Offensively, we did a good job right from the jump of moving the ball around, penetrating, kicking the ball out.”
Everybody got into the act. Hey, they treated he game like it had playoff implications. The alternative of anticipating the lottery when you don’t have a first round pick is not exactly whoopee-cushion fun.
Rambis wants his guys thinking positive, thinking of winning.
“I understand with each loss it gets mathematically more difficult to make that happen, so I understand that,” Rambis said.
Maybe the Knicks equipped themselves with that outlook, because all five starters scored in double-figures, with two of those, Anthony and Arron Afflalo (14 points, 12 rebounds), who was iffy because of a bruised thigh, collecting double-doubles. And that size and strength thing? It paid off big time as the Knicks shot 36 free throws to the Magic’s 16.
“That’s the way we need to play. Everybody was involved, everybody was attacking, everybody was trying to be aggressive when we had the opportunity and I missed a lot of shots and Carmelo did,” said Kristaps Porzingis (18 points, six rebounds). “But I think as we all got involved we were able to find good opportunities for us to score and it was a total team effort.”
The bench kicked in — Jerian Gran played a solid 16 minutes with five points and three assists. Lance Thomas and Derrick Williams scored 11 points each. And the tone-setter for the game was Jose Calderon who scored 10 of his 14 points in the first quarter.
“I have been encouraging him to be aggressive,” Rambis said. “If he is being aggressive, he is drawing attention to himself and if a shot if created, that is what it does.”
The Knicks listened to more than just Rambis’ stance on playoffs. They took everything to heart, especially in the first half, against a team that had played the night before.
“We wanted to attack hem in the paint. We had post-up advantages, size advantages,” Rambis said. “They had speed and quickness on their side so we wanted to use that as our strength and be able to attack. I kept writing on the board: ‘Paint, paint,’ protect the paint at the defensive end, attack the paint at the offensive end.”
They did on both ends.
“That means everybody is being aggressive, everybody is a part of the game in some way shape or form. It was a connection that we had offensively and defensively,” Anthony said of the team-wide contributions. “It makes me feel good, I tell you that.”