And, with a game in hand, they can easily finish ahead of the Rangers in the playoff standings.

They trail Indiana by three games and Cleveland by one-half game and lead Washington by one game in the playoff standing.

The Knicks needed this victory to hold on to sixth place in the playoff standing and to move to 3-0 on their four-game trip.

This game would decide the playoff standings for the league championship, and quite a few people had come to see it.

The Chiefs lost-to the Raiders, again-in horridly droopy fashion, downgrading themselves from third to fourth in the playoff standings.

With Pittsburgh winning, the Ravens did not gain anything in the playoff standings.

The Devils are to play the Islanders on Thursday and the Rangers on Saturday at the start of their push to improve their playoff standing.

The Knicks are in eighth place in the playoff standing, one-half game behind the Nets and potentially positioned to meet the Bulls in the first round.

Once again, the Knicks, who are one game ahead of the eighth-place Nets in the playoff standing, could not come through in a critical game.

At the moment of truth, the Pistons stuck the voodoo pins into Houston, the Knicks and their playoff standing.