Barbara Barker

1 week ago | newsday.com | Barbara Barker

Wait until Jalen Brunson gets back. That was the mantra, the nonstop refrain that Knicks fans repeated over and over again for nearly a month as they waited for their All-Star point guard to recover from the sprained ankle that sidelined him for 15 games this spring. The belief was if the Knicks could find a way to tread water while their floor leader was gone, everything would be OK. Well, the Knicks did manage to stay in third place in the East while Brunson was gone.

1 week ago | newsday.com | Barbara Barker

Sean Marks can’t blow this one. The Nets general manager has been handed a rare do-over, a chance to rebuild a franchise from the ground up like he did when he took over a wreckage of a team with no draft picks eight years ago and built it into a franchise so promising that big-name superstars came knocking on their door. Not only is Marks getting another chance to rebuild, this time he will be working with what amounts to diamond-encrusted tools.

1 week ago | newsday.com | Barbara Barker

Mikal Bridges was the only Knicks starter who suited up for the team's season finale Sunday against the Nets. Of course, the reason the Knicks played Bridges for the first six seconds of a meaningless 113-105 victory over the Nets was to extend his playing streak to 556 games. Yet, streak or not, it only seemed right that Bridges was on the floor as he has emerged as the pivotal player connecting the direction the two teams seem to be heading.

1 week ago | newsday.com | Barbara Barker

Somewhere at the start of the fourth quarter of their 108-102 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday night, the Knicks managed to lock up the No. 3 seed in the Eastern Conference and secure a first-round matchup with Detroit. The Knicks (50-31) backed into third place a good 20 minutes before the game was over when the Orlando Magic beat an Indiana Pacers team that was playing without five starters. At about the same time, Milwaukee defeated Detroit, locking the Pistons into sixth place.

1 week ago | newsday.com | Barbara Barker

It’s hard to imagine a more exciting finish to the regular season than the one the Knicks had a year ago. The Knicks won their final five games, clinching the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference with an overtime win over the Chicago Bulls in the season finale. There was no consideration of resting multiple starters down the stretch, even though a solid argument could be made that the Knicks would be better off with a lower seed so they could avoid the Philadelphia 76ers in the first round.