Hawks (5) @ Knicks (4) - Playoffs Round 1 - Game 1 - SUNDAY May 23 - 7:00pm

[RiseOfTheEmpire]

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We are the defensive juggernaut, we have King Kong, yet we're supposed to be afraid of this guy...






Thibs defensive plan for Young...

[Davis18]

I think Frank can lock down Young if allowed.
Collins would be frustrated on both sides by Randle as well.
Problem is Capela since Noel & Gibson are too light.
If we had Mitch we would be in far better shape.

[Synciere]

Maybe because we've been out of the playoffs so long people aren't confident in our team, but we're playing a team we swept during the regular season, and we'll have home court advantage.

Knicks in 5.

Let's not forget that in the most recent game Hawks were up 8 and seemingly on their way to a double digit blowout until Trae turned an ankle in the 3rd quarter. I expect the games to follow the trend of the most recent matchup except the Trae getting hurt part.

Nah f*ck that. Only reason it was close was because they injured Noel and Taj and we had to play freaking Norvel Pell heavy minutes, who not surprisingly is terrible in the P&R.

Unless Solomon Hill injures Randle we are winning in 5 or 6. I’m not scared of this no defense playing Hawks team.

[Ny176]

Knicks in 6. They need Frank to start, take Paytons mins and shutdown Trae. His D is that good. Hopefully the refs will let them play D. They will double Randle and make evryone else step up to beat them. They know if Randle gets rolling, itll be lights out, and at least Frank can hit the 3. They can't afford to have a stagnant Offense and play catch up. Start Frank and have Rose come off the bench early. We need Rose to finish the game and not be gassed by the 4th Q, so stagger his mins at the point with Burks/Quickley.

[Ny176]

I think Frank can lock down Young if allowed.
Collins would be frustrated on both sides by Randle as well.
Problem is Capela since Noel & Gibson are too light.
If we had Mitch we would be in far better shape.

Wish we had a healthy Mitch. I'd give ATL 1 game. Knicks in 5. We need him in the 2nd Rd vs Philly. That would be a classic Eastern conference war, even though we haven't beaten them in 17-18 games is it?

[HarthorneWingo]

I think Frank can lock down Young if allowed.
Collins would be frustrated on both sides by Randle as well.
Problem is Capela since Noel & Gibson are too light.
If we had Mitch we would be in far better shape.

Pelle is a big body we can use to lean on Capela.

Pelle is the antidote to Capela.

[Dave DaButcher]

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Great memories from those halcyon days. It’s now time to make new ones.

[prophet_of_rage]

On the GB the Hawks supporters are talking about Hunter defending Randle. Did they try that in the regular season?

I always thought of Hunter as an SF but can he play pf?

Is ATL mobile enough to put full court pressure on the Knicks?

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[prophet_of_rage]

https://nypost.com/2021/05/17/knicks-vs-hawks-scouts-like-atlanta-in-nba-playoff-series/

This raises my concern. I couldn't see the last Hawks game. Were we able to keep up prior to the Trae injury?

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[Deeeez Knicks]

On the GB the Hawks supporters are talking about Hunter defending Randle. Did they try that in the regular season?

I always thought of Hunter as an SF but can he play pf?

Is ATL mobile enough to put full court pressure on the Knicks?

Sent from my SM-N970W using Tapatalk

Hunter didn't play in the last 2 matchups. John Collins mostly defended Randle and Randle has pretty much did whatever he wanted. Hunter is a much better defender, but I cant see him slowing Randle down one on one, and then RJ should have the mismatch on Collins. They will probably have to double.

[3toheadmelo]

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[D3ko]

Bad feeling about the match up.

We are going to be sweep

Collins and randle will match each other. And we dont have more firepower than that.

Probably the worst team for the Knicks.

Heavy pick and roll team . With size at the 5.
And a bunch of shooters( Bogy, Gallo, Huerter, Hunter, Lou)

Very bad feeling about the series.

Even thibs has a copy on the other bench.

[iLLmatic860]

Whens game 1

[Davis18]

Bad feeling about the match up.

We are going to be sweep

Collins and randle will match each other. And we dont have more firepower than that.

Probably the worst team for the Knicks.

Heavy pick and roll team . With size at the 5.
And a bunch of shooters( Bogy, Gallo, Huerter, Hunter, Lou)

Very bad feeling about the series.

Even thibs has a copy on the other bench.

You must be one of few Hawks fan.
You should indeed have bad feeling.

[DaGawd]

Bad feeling about the match up.

We are going to be sweep

Collins and randle will match each other. And we dont have more firepower than that.

Probably the worst team for the Knicks.

Heavy pick and roll team . With size at the 5.
And a bunch of shooters( Bogy, Gallo, Huerter, Hunter, Lou)

Very bad feeling about the series.

Even thibs has a copy on the other bench.

*looks at favorite team logo*

[DaGawd]

On the GB the Hawks supporters are talking about Hunter defending Randle. Did they try that in the regular season?

I always thought of Hunter as an SF but can he play pf?

Is ATL mobile enough to put full court pressure on the Knicks?

Sent from my SM-N970W using Tapatalk

Hunter didn't play in the last 2 matchups. John Collins mostly defended Randle and Randle has pretty much did whatever he wanted. Hunter is a much better defender, but I cant see him slowing Randle down one on one, and then RJ should have the mismatch on Collins. They will probably have to double.

The sad thing is they can probably get away with putting Collins on RJ since RJ is slow and mechanical off the dribble and has no wiggle in his game

[Deeeez Knicks]

On the GB the Hawks supporters are talking about Hunter defending Randle. Did they try that in the regular season?

I always thought of Hunter as an SF but can he play pf?

Is ATL mobile enough to put full court pressure on the Knicks?

Sent from my SM-N970W using Tapatalk

Hunter didn't play in the last 2 matchups. John Collins mostly defended Randle and Randle has pretty much did whatever he wanted. Hunter is a much better defender, but I cant see him slowing Randle down one on one, and then RJ should have the mismatch on Collins. They will probably have to double.

The sad thing is they can probably get away with putting Collins on RJ since RJ is slow and mechanical off the dribble and has no wiggle in his game

Yea, you kinda wonder about that one. RJ should be able to get a step on Collins and take him off the dribble in his methodical ways. But Capella will be waiting in the paint. Collins may have trouble following RJ on the perimeter so he might be able to get some open looks out there too if they go that way. Overall, i think RJ should be able to capitalize on that one....just never know how young players will react to the playoffs.

RJ does have good games against the Hawks. He seemed to play with an extra edge going against Cam.

[jayu70]

Nah f*ck that. Only reason it was close was because they injured Noel and Taj and we had to play freaking Norvel Pell heavy minutes, who not surprisingly is terrible in the P&R.

Unless Solomon Hill injures Randle we are winning in 5 or 6. I’m not scared of this no defense playing Hawks team.

Norvel Pell was the only reason you won that game. It was his big uncoordinated foot that Trae landed on and sprained his ankle. Knicks player of the game for sure.


as for no defense, we're 13th in the league in defense since April 1. This is completely different team since Nate took over.

Genuinely think the Knicks would have come back and won anyway. Y’all blew a 13 point 3rd quarter lead the first time we played and Trae played the whole game. And that’s was before we even acquired Derrick Rose.

In the first game, coached by Lloyd Pierce, Bogi was still coming off the bench and took only 3 shots in that game, Hawks were also missing Gallo, Snell and Rondo. Add in the fact that under Pierce, it was the norm for the Hawks to blow 4th quarter leads which was one of the reasons he was fired. After that Knicks game, he had 11 additional losses while leading in the 4th.
Since March 1st when Nate McMillan took over, the Hawks defense is ranked 12th overall and 2nd in 4th quarter defense, so more often than not we are not blowing 4th quarter leads.
In the 2nd game - No Bogi, Snell, Hunter or Rondo(at the time).

[snadler]

Biggest concern in this series, isn't even Young, it's Capela..the knicks even though winning have really struggled rebounding the ball, and Capela will dominate the glass and give the hawks many second and 3rd opportunities, it's been a weakness for the knicks since Mitch went down. If Capela dominates the glass the Hawks will win this series

[jayu70]

We neutralized Capella in the OT last game after he waxed us all regulation. Anyone remember the plan of attack?

Collins was returning from an ankle injury and on a minutes restrictions and did not play in the OT, also Gallo, Snell and Hunter were also unavailable for that game.