Thibs’ crew to be tested by schedule over final 9 games
The Knicks have feasted on lottery-bound teams over the past several days, and they will face one more out-of-it opponent looking to complete a sweep of this fourgame segment Friday night against Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs.
The schedule tightens up thereafter over the final nine games of the regular season, however, for the Knicks if they are to hold onto or move up from the No. 3 playoff position in the Eastern Conference.
Following Friday’s visit to San Antonio, the Knicks will play eight of their final nine games against teams currently in at least a play-in position, all but their April 12 game against the Nets.
The Knicks will return home to face the Thunder on Sunday night, and they also have games remaining against the Heat, Kings, Bucks and Celtics.
In a scheduling quirk, three of their final six contests will be against the Bulls, who currently are in the No. 9 play-in spot in the East.
➤ The Spurs (17-56) own the worst record in the Western Conference, but the 7-foot-4 Wembanyama is averaging 20.7 points, 10.3 rebounds and a league-best 3.5 blocked shots in his initial NBA season.
He is on pace to become the first rookie to average at least 20 points and 10 boards since Blake Griffin in 2010-11.
“Definitely, he’s a talented kid with the way he can put it on the floor, shoot it,” Knicks center Mitchell Robinson said. “You know they’re going to go out there and play hard.”
Robinson played 12 minutes over two stints Wednesday night in his first appearance since December ankle surgery.
➤ Bojan Bogdanovic has had two consecutive productive games off the bench with 13 points Monday against the Pistons and 18 Wednesday against the Raptors on a combined 12-for-22 (54.5 percent) from the floor. He had averaged 4.0 points while shooting 28.1 percent over his previous six appearances.