From the Brooklyn Nets tripling down on the superteam concept to the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers needing to win a play-in game to qualify for the playoffs, there was no shortage of unpredictability throughout the shortened 72-game NBA regular season.
But the biggest surprise of all might be summed up in these 17 words: The New York Knicks and Atlanta Hawks are opposing one another in an Eastern Conference playoff series.
The Knicks will appear in the postseason for the first time since 2013 Sunday night, when they are scheduled to host the Hawks in the opening game of the best-of-seven first-round series.
The fourth-seeded Knicks and fifth-seeded Hawks each finishe…
Keep on reading: Surprising Hawks, Knicks open first-round series in East