Can the New York Knicks finish off the improbable playoff run?

When the regular season began, few expected much out of the New York Knicks, who were widely assumed to be a front-runner for a top pick in the NBA Draft. Everything has flipped on its head for the Knicks, who have played strong basketball under new head coach Tom Thibodeau, compiling a 28-27 record over their first 55 games.

That record has the Knicks in possession of the 8th seed in the Eastern Conference, which would assure them of a place in the play-in tournament. The conference is also extremely tight outside of its top three teams, so the eighth-place Knicks are just 1.5 games back of the Atlanta Hawks for fourth place, meaning there is a good chance they can avoid the play-in tournament entirely. The Knicks are also six up in the loss column on 11th place Toronto and 12th place Washington, all but assuring they will be playing some form of basketball after the regular season concludes.

Any sane Knicks fan would have signed immediately for a relevant regular season after years of mediocrity, so this season would have to be considered a major success. Thibodeau has done a terrific job molding this team into a rugged defensive unit that is committed to making it tough on the opposition, a fun throwback to the Knicks of the 1990s that won the hearts of New Yorkers thanks to their hard-knocks attitude.

Team president Leon Rose has also wisely resisted the urge to go for a quick fix with this roster, instead relying on a mix of young players and role-players to build the core of a good team. R.J. Barrett and Julius Randle have taken huge leaps forward, showing they can be building blocks for the future, while Immanuel Quickley has become the steal of the draft.

Players such as Derrick Rose, Taj Gibson, Alec Burks and Nerlens Noel have also done nice work as complementary pieces for the Knicks. This roster doesn't have a ton of offensive firepower but the group plays hard every night and has some tangible upside, creating hope that the Knicks can become a free-agent destination in the future.

The big challenge for the Knicks is their schedule, which is loaded with tough teams down the stretch. The most difficult portion of it comes in early May when the Knicks go West for a six-game road trip that features five games against Western Conference contenders like the Phoenix Suns, Los Angeles Clippers, and a presumably healthy Los Angeles Lakers. There are few games against weak opponents left, meaning the Knicks will have to hold their own against elite competition to get into the postseason.

If the Knicks can find a way to win at least 9 of their remaining 17 games they would finish with a record of 37-35, which might be good enough to avoid the play-in tournament. Even if it isn't, that should be good enough to land New York back in the postseason for the first time since 2013. This year is a good first step for the Knicks, who really need to find a way to sustain this effort to build towards perennial contention in the increasingly difficult Eastern Conference.