Paul Pierce thinks the Knicks are smoke and mirrors.
Pierce and Kevin Garnett spoke about the team’s playoff chances on their “Ticket & The Truth” podcast, and Pierce predicted the Knicks would get dusted in the first round, believing that the Heat or even the Pacers would be problematic matchups for them.
Garnett was of the belief that the “wave” of the NBA’s institutional backing might propel the Knicks, and he was very high on Jalen Brunson, Julius Randle — who has been out with a shoulder injury — and Bojan Bogdanovic.
Pierce, however, felt they need another year of “seasoning” and chemistry to integrate their new pieces.
“The Knicks is like an Instagram model,” Pierce said.
“I be on Instagram and I be like, ‘Damn she fine.’ Then you catch ‘em in person and you’re like… ‘This you?’ It’s too many filters.”
Garnett sought to clarify what Pierce meant.
“It’s two different things — reality vs. digital?” Garnett asked his former teammate. “So what am I watching on TV then?”
Pierce responded, “An Instagram model. They got that Fashion Nova on.”
On a positive note for the Knicks, the left knee injury that Brunson sustained on Sunday against the Cavaliers was not nearly as bad as initially feared.
“He’s feeling better, just not quite there yet,” head coach Tom Thibodeau told reporters Tuesday before the Knicks’ game against the Hawks.
Thibodeau added that an MRI on Brunson’s knee came up clean.
The Knicks enter Tuesday’s game at 36-25 and would be the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference if the playoffs began now.
However, just two wins separate them from the Heat and Pacers, who are ranked seventh and eighth, respectively, which would qualify them for the NBA’s play-in tournament.
