The eight Eastern Conference playoff teams are set, and the New York Knicks are not included.
That's a statement that most have been predicting with confidence for much of the season, but it took until April 12—the fifth-to-last day of the season—for it become official.
The Atlanta Hawks did the honors, knocking off the Miami Heat, 98-85, to lock up the eighth and final playoff spot in the East on Saturday night. Of course, it wasn't exactly a lose-on-purpose spiteful kind of move by the Heat, as they moved back into a tie with the Indiana Pacers atop the conference (Pacers own the tie-breaker) a day after claiming the No. 1 spot.
Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press summed it all up:
New York simply dug itself into far too big of a hole. After a woeful month of February (2-11), the Knicks dropped to 21-40 on March 3, a record that would put them into tanking territory during most other campaigns.
In the weak East, though, Mike Woodson's squad was still alive and continued to fight, reeling off eight consecutive victories to climb back into cont ...
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Article written by Tim Keeney
Knicks Officially Eliminated from Playoff Contention with Hawks’ Win over Heat
April 12th, 2014 by Tim Keeney Leave a reply »
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