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Well, we've said it before: The standings only see wins and losses, not big leads and narrowly avoided collapses. The Knicks let the Kings mess with them Wednesday night, but they hit some huge shots and came out of Sacramento alive. This was a genuinely tight game after the Knicks led by as many as 24, but Sacramento never pulled all the way even.
Carmelo Anthony and J.R. Smith carried the Knicks' late-game offense almost by themselves, dropping numerous pull-up and trailing jumpers to reach 36 and 29 points apiece and keep a series of Sacramento runs juuuuust short of a full comeback. Smith's nine threes tied the seemingly unbreakable Knicks record held by Melo, Toney Douglas, Latrell Sprewell, and John Starks.
The Knicks are now two games back of the Hawks and three games back of them in the loss column for the eighth seed, so that somehow continues to be a thing. Recap later/in the morning!