For the Knicks to clinch the Eastern Conference’s No.3  seed, two things needed to happen on Sunday: a victory over the Phoenix Suns, coupled with an Indiana Pacers loss to Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets. The Knicks handled business with a 112-98 victory at Madison Square Garden to punch win No. 50 for the second season in a row, but the Pacers foiled their plans with a 125-120 win in Denver. Head coach Tom Thibodeau said clinching the No. 3 seed is meaningful for a team that wants to play its best basketball at the end of the season. “We talked about it. I think that as you head down the stretch, you want to check boxes,” Thibodeau said after the win over the Suns. “You want a winning record at home, winning record on the road. 50 wins is good. You want the highest seed possible, and then you want to be playing well, so we’re going step by step. We’re not skipping over anything, and this is the approach we’ve taken all season long, so we’re not gonna change now. We feel like this will help prepare us for what’s down the road.” So now the Knicks, who have a 3.5-game lead over the fourth-seeded Pacers in the standings, need just one more win to clinch the third seed, regardless of what the Pacers do the rest of the way, though an Indiana loss will also seal the deal for New York. A hiccup? The Knicks are a combined 1-8 against their next three opponents: the reigning champion Boston Celtics on Tuesday (0-3), the No. 5 Detroit Pistons (1-2) in the front leg of a back-to-back on Thursday, then the No. 1-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers (0-3) in the second leg on Friday. Even if they lose all three, and even if the Pacers win out, the Knicks will still clinch the No. 3 seed with a victory over the Nets at Barclays Center in the season finale on Sunday. Indiana’s schedule makes it unlikely the Pacers will run the table. The Pacers must play the top-seeded Cavaliers twice in their final four games, including once in the front leg of a back-to-back. So the Knicks are still likely to hold onto No. 3. They just weren’t able to secure it in Jalen Brunson’s first game back from a right ankle sprain on Sunday. “Any time you can move up in the standings is the best. We want to be playing our best basketball come the playoffs,” Karl-Anthony Towns said. “Every game matters, and all it’s saying is how well we’ve been playing this season — the seeding.” Their next shot at getting it done will be against a team they haven’t been able to solve this season. The Celtics own an average margin of victory of 21 points through their first three matchups against the Knicks. “It’s always a good test when you get to play good teams, but we’ve gotta keep working on ourselves and keep figuring out ways we can be better and be a more complete team come playoffs.” “Every game is a test,” Thibodeau added. “Tomorrow, day off, recovery, and then prepare. To understand what goes into winning. Don’t change your routine but understand what we have to do to win.” DUNKANOBY OG Anunoby said his 360 double pump dunk to put a cap on Sunday’s victory over the Suns was nothing new — but his teammates disagree. “I used to do 360s all the time,” Anunoby said at his locker after a 32-point performance against Phoenix. “It’s just another dunk.” Brunson, who was trailing Anunoby on the play, joked he hoped his teammate would make a play for him instead. “[He] definitely doesn’t do it [360s] practice,” the All-Star guard said after the game before deadpanning: “I was kind of hoping he’d throw it off the backboard to me, but I didn’t get that one.” Anunoby’s 32-point performance marked his 10th straight game with 23 or more points. “He’s been playing unbelievable these past couple of weeks,” said Brunson. “All season, but he really stepped up recently and he’s just doing what he does. That’s what we expect of him.” His 360 at Madison Square Garden, however, sent the crowd into an uproar. Is it time to punch Anunoby’s ticket to the 2026 NBA Dunk Contest? “We’ll see,” he joked. “I’ll sleep on it.” “He did a 360 today?” Miles McBride joked. “Nah, we know what he does when it comes to the dunking — Dunk-A-Noby.” ...read more read less