Knicks can benefit from games left before playoffs

DETROIT — It is nine days until the first round of the playoffs begin, when everything means everything. When every possession is scrutinized, every scenario studied. But it’s hard to imagine the Knicks with much more at stake than they have over the four day span they find themselves in the middle of right now.

If you ask Tom Thibodeau or the players who have memorized the speeches the coach preaches, a game against Utah in November requires the same approach as a playoff game in April or May and those require the same attention to detail as a practice session in training camp.

But there is a mental part of the game that matters, even if they are reluctant to admit it. Something was gained by taking the Boston Celtics to overtime Tuesday night even if the Knicks insisted there are no moral victories. And there will be something learned when the Knicks take on their near-certain first-round playoff opponent, the Detroit Pistons, Thursday night. The three games in four nights span concludes back at Madison Square Garden Friday when the Knicks get one last chance at beating one of the top three teams in the league, a quest that has failed nine times already this season without a win.

So it’s a balance, and the Knicks opted for caution for one of the rare times. Josh Hart, OG Anunoby and Mitchell Robinson have all been ruled out for Thursday’s game and it shouldn’t surprise anyone if Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns get a night off Friday against the Cavs.

The Knicks have a week when the season ends to prepare for the postseason, a mini-camp to game plan and strategize. But to believe that they can play with the elite teams and maybe even that they can discard the Pistons in the first round after Detroit has already won two of three from the Knicks this season, these games prove something to themselves that practice can’t provide.

“I think it’s something we can build off,” Jalen Brunson said after the Knicks fell, 119-117 in overtime to the Celtics Tuesday. “There’s a lot of things we can take positive from this game, and there’s some negative things we can take. That’s every game, not just this game in particular. It’s a little disappointing, just knowing that we fought back and had a chance.”

“There’s no moral victories,” Karl-Anthony Towns said. “We did a better job. It’s about getting the win and we just didn’t do that tonight. We’re getting better every day. That’s a testament to everyone in this locker room, professionalism, character. Just keep fighting and keep moving forward, keep finding ourselves getting that one percent better every night.”

These games matter little in the standings. Changes in seeding in the final days are unlikely with magic numbers at one for the Knicks for third place and two for the Bucks to secure fifth place. A win Thursday in Detroit would lock up the third seed for the Knicks and combined with a Milwaukee win over New Orleans means the first-round matchup between the Knicks and Pistons is set.

But for all of the bold talk the Knicks are still a work in progress, a team that came together on the eve of training camp and has yet to prove itself in the postseason. These games that may not matter to some are tests that will show something, not to the fans or media, but to themselves. Tuesday they showed they could play with the Celtics. But they also showed mistakes, mental and physical, in crunch time. Those are lessons learned the hard way.

Maybe the much-improved performance against Boston was a result of finally being whole after a month without Brunson and having spent most of the season without Mitchell Robinson, a tease to what can be as they head toward the postseason with all of the pieces intact. In an effort to ensure that they stay that way they are exercising caution with the lineups.

If they can get it right now, if they can get it right in the coming weeks, then the questions about the rebuild will quiet. If not, then this entire season might just be prep for next season and better luck next time.