On Sunday night, the New York Knicks defeated the Washington Wizards 118-109 to clinch a playoff berth. Immanuel Quickley scored 22 points, Quentin Grimes scored 27, Jalen Brunson scored 27, and Obi Toppin scored 21 to lead the team in scoring. Mitchell Robinson got 11 rebounds in addition to 8 points.
After missing the playoffs for seven straight seasons, the Knicks won their fourth straight game and will participate in the postseason for the second time in three years. While praising the team's accomplishment, coach Tom Thibodeau underlined the importance to keep moving ahead and concentrating on the next stage.
Given that the Knicks were missing All-Star forward Julius Randle, who is sidelined with a sprained ankle, the victory was all the more impressive. Thibodeau highlighted the chance for other players to step up and fill the void while praising the team's depth and resiliency.
For the Wizards, Corey Kispert had a career-high 29 points, Johnny Davis had 16, and Taj Gibson had 14. At halftime, the Wizards were in the lead 61-53, having increased their lead to as many as 10 points in the second quarter. The Knicks, on the other hand, made a second-half rally and eventually seized the lead with a 14-4 run in the third quarter.
With 2:38 left in the fourth quarter, a floater by Brunson gave the Knicks their largest lead of the game, 114-94, as they resisted the Wizards' attempts to close the gap. Kyle Kuzma, Kristaps Porzingis, and Bradley Beal, the Wizards' top three scorers, were absent. While Porzingis missed his second consecutive game due to sickness, Beal and Kuzma have missed six and seven games, respectively.
Due to a non-Covid sickness, RJ Barrett was also sidelined for the Knicks, and Randle had started every game prior to becoming hurt. On April 2, 1970, exactly 53 years ago, Willis Reed set a postseason record for the Knicks by grabbing 36 rebounds in a victory over the Washington Bullets in Game 5 of the Eastern Division semifinals.