Playoff Seeding

Knicks head coach Mike D'Antoni believes the Knicks just need to get into the playoffs to make noise.

Now that the Knicks have a top-five player in F Carmelo Anthony to join forces with F Amar'e Stoudemire, what is the ceiling for the Knicks? After the Knicks easily handled the Jazz at home tonight, the Knicks are 5-3 since acquring Anthony. Two of those three losses have come against the league's worst Cleveland Cavaliers. The Knicks are 7-1 if they take care of business against them. The Knicks have impressive road wins against Miami and Atlanta as well, and an impressive showing at Orlando before they crumbled in the fourth quarter.

Can the Knicks, at 33-29, climb the standings in the last 20 games? If you ask coach Mike D'Antoni, he doesn't seem to care. D'Antoni said, in Sunday's edition of the New York Daily News, that he's not worried about the Philadelphia 76ers, who are directly behind the Knicks at the seventh spot. He said he's worried about the ninth-place Charlotte Bobcats. D'Antoni is clearly indicating he doesn't care if the Knicks finish as an eighth seed. Once the Knicks get into the playoffs, they'll be a dangerous matchup for any of the top teams in the Eastern Conference in his mindset.

It's shocking that D'Antoni openly admits that. The Knicks should be worried about climbing the standings, hopefully for a fourth-place finish, where they'll have home-court advantage in the first round. That'll make them more dangerous if they were to climb the standings and get a lot of wins together before the playoff run. It's easy to remember the Knicks are the only team in NBA history to go to the NBA Finals as an eighth seed.

However, with the Celtics most likely going to occupy the top seed in the conference, it's better that the Knicks can avoid them in the beginning, with the hopes that they can see them further in the playoffs. There's no telling where the Knicks will eventually finish when it's all said and done. However, the goal is to continue to win games. As a Knick fan, I feel no satisfaction with the fact D'Antoni feels this way. They still have to prove they can win to the rest of the country.