LOS ANGELES — There was a question lobbed at Tom Thibodeau in a rather dour postgame news conference Thursday night that I assume had the coach silently seething.
“Going down the homestretch, any thought to pull some guys off, rest some guys?” the reporter asked after the Knicks were pounded in overtime by the Lakers. “Because you guys have pretty much solidified the two or three seed in the Eastern Conference?”
Thibodeau took the high road — “There’s still a long way to go, so you just got to keep playing” — but the idea that the Knicks locked up a seed at this point is so utterly ridiculous I would’ve understood if Thibodeau whipped out a Math 101 textbook in response.
The Knicks, despite residing almost all season as the East’s third seed, hardly are in a comfortable position there. It’s true there’s little hope now of catching the Celtics, who own one of the easiest remaining schedules and hit another gear with 13 wins in their past 16 games.