The New York Knicks locked up the No. 7 seed in the Eastern Conference with a 104-84 win over the Charlotte Bobcats on Thursday night. Well, technically the Philadelphia 76ers did the dirty work for them by getting blown out by the Toronto Raptors. Regardless, the Knicks are all set to tip off against the 2-seed Miami Heat in the first round of the 2012 NBA Playoffs starting this weekend.
The Knicks held out Carmelo Anthony, Tyson Chandler and Baron Davis in the win, and still managed to blowout a Bobcats squad that set the NBA record for the worst season winning percentage of all time. Amare Stoudemire scored 21 points in just two quarters of work. J.R. Smith came off the bench to lead the Knicks with 22 points, and Mike Bibby of all people led all players with 12 rebounds.
The Bobcats shot just 43.2 percent from the floor, compared to 51.8 percent for the Knicks. Gerald Henderson scored 21 to lead the team, adding seven rebounds. D.J. Augustin went just 5-for-15 from the floor for 12 points, however, and Bismack Biyombo was rendered relatively useless with just five points on 2-for-3 shooting and three rebounds.
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