Hawks to face Knicks in 1st Round of Playoffs

Post #1 » by **Jamaaliver** » Mon May 17, 2021 2:22 am

Congrats to both teams. It's good to be rooting for the playoffs & not for the draft lottery.

Make this the official thread for predictions, theories, trash talk and what-not as we wait for Game 1 to begin.

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Live look at Hawks squad once it was confirmed they'd be headed to NY for the playoffs.

Spoiler:

jayu70 · Post #2 » by **jayu70** » Mon May 17, 2021 2:29 am

Trae and Huerter both played their 1st NBA game in NY....now they're playing their 1st playoff game there as well. Here's to a different outcome.

jayu70 · Post #3 » by **jayu70** » Mon May 17, 2021 2:32 am

Read on Twitter

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Post #4 » by **Jamaaliver** » Mon May 17, 2021 2:34 am

If we can split the first two games at MSG, we should be able to take control over the series at State Farm Arena.

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But Derrick Rose and Julius Randle will not go down easily.

Post #5 » by **Jamaaliver** » Mon May 17, 2021 2:45 am

Hawks eager to prove they deserve postseason spotlight

After an impressive 114-96 win in Brooklyn, fending off Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, fourth year power-forward John Collins had a message for those taking the Hawks lightly:

“I feel like we proved that we are real contenders in the East. ... We are not a joke.”

Interim coach Nate McMillan took over for Lloyd Pierce, the Hawks went from the worst fourth-quarter team in the league to the best and they’ve gone 26-11 since (40-31 overall), only recently getting healthier. They’ve clinched a Top 6 playoff spot, successfully avoiding the play-in tournament, catapulting from No. 11 in the East to No. 4 (as of Friday). The turnaround has been dramatic.

In light of that, many of the Hawks don’t feel that the team has gotten the national attention it deserves, or the credit for how much the group has improved. With the franchise’s first playoffs since the 2016 season awaiting, they’re motivated to back up Collins’ original point, having undergone this transformation — they’re better than people think they are.

For many of the young Hawks players, including Collins, the longest-tenured guy on the roster, this will mark their first trip to the playoffs. That’s the case for Year 3 players in Young and Kevin Huerter and Year 2 in De’Andre Hunter. Every player with postseason experience, including Lou Williams, Clint Capela, Solomon Hill and Danilo Gallinari, is a newer arrival.

[T]hey’re here now. And they’ve got the opportunity, whoever it comes against (both the Heat and Knicks would be a tough matchup in the first round), to prove they belong.

AJC.com

jayu70 · Post #6 » by **jayu70** » Mon May 17, 2021 2:50 am

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Post #7 » by **Jamaaliver** » Mon May 17, 2021 3:06 am

The entire focus of our defense has to be on slowing this guy down:

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First up to reign him in?

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RandlesCornrows · Post #8 » by **RandlesCornrows** » Mon May 17, 2021 3:44 am

Good luck fellas. It could go either way. Going to be fun and intense. Both teams will be fighting in the playoffs for a long time. Now we just got to wait a week :/

CP War Hawks · Post #9 » by **CP War Hawks** » Mon May 17, 2021 4:05 am

Jamaaliver wrote:The entire focus of our defense has to be on slowing this guy down:

Read on Twitter

First up to reign him in?

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Didn't even put Hunter in consideration to guard him but I can see it. It can't be good for his knee however. I like Onyeka on him even as a rook. They damn near have the same body type and Big O can match his physicality. Collins has to man up alittle when his name is called.

He's the head of the snake. Kind of reminds me of letting Dwight get off when he was with Orlando and shut everybody else down. That was a good formula and it's another option that could work for this series.

Post #10 » by **Jamaaliver** » Mon May 17, 2021 4:31 am

Read on Twitter

shakes0 · Post #11 » by **shakes0** » Mon May 17, 2021 2:37 pm

anyone know when the first round schedule will be released?

Post #12 » by **Jamaaliver** » Mon May 17, 2021 3:15 pm

Matchups to watch in Round 1: Randle vs. the bigs, and Thibs' plan for Trae

There are two matchups to keep an eye on: Randle vs. Clint Capela and John Collins; and Thibodeau vs. Trae Young. Randle has been a force against the Hawks this season, scoring 40 points, 44 points and 28 points in each of their three matchups. (The Knicks won all three.) Capela and Collins could be tasked with containing him. On the other side, Thibodeau has seemed to draw up schemes to force the Hawks to try to beat them without Young's sharpshooting. Young shot 36.2% against the Knicks in the regular season, his second lowest against any team that he played at least three times.

Biggest concern along the Hawks playoff path

Playoff inexperience. Of Atlanta's top five scorers, only center Clint Capela has ever appeared in the playoffs. ESPN's Zach Lowe has told the story of running into Hawks guard Kevin Huerter in his hotel in Philadelphia during the 2019 playoffs, when Pierce brought Huerter to watch his former team and get a sense of postseason basketball. Watching from the stands is no substitute for the real thing, and playoff experience does have predictive power for team success. Atlanta's stars could struggle to adapt to defenses scheming for them in a different way than during the regular season.

ESPN

tbhawksfan1 · Post #13 » by **tbhawksfan1** » Mon May 17, 2021 5:34 pm

Hawks have to stop Randle. Knicks have to stop Trae, JC, Bogi, Cap, Gallo, Lou, Heurter.... Hawks should be able to over-whelm them with talent and depth. If Trae can come into the series with his 3 working again. It's over

tbhawksfan1 · Post #14 » by **tbhawksfan1** » Mon May 17, 2021 5:35 pm

Dang... forgot Hunter...too much depth to remember... Snell, Hill, OO oh my

jayu70 · Post #15 » by **jayu70** » Mon May 17, 2021 5:59 pm

Hawks Before and After LP and WITH Bogi.

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....and I'm sure the defensive metrics are also better and our 4th quarters.

shakes0 · Post #16 » by **shakes0** » Mon May 17, 2021 7:33 pm

I wish I could help y'all defend the Hawks honor on the general board, but I'm one month into a 2 month general board ban so Hawks gonna need to make in a couple rounds before I can support them on the GB.

Before anyone asks, my ban was for making a timely joke about the WNBA that was not appreciated by the snowflake politically correct police who mod the general board.

DirtybirdGA · Post #17 » by **DirtybirdGA** » Mon May 17, 2021 7:55 pm

Can Jamaliver represent you in Message Board court?

jayu70 · Post #18 » by **jayu70** » Mon May 17, 2021 8:00 pm

shakes0 wrote:I wish I could help y'all defend the Hawks honor on the general board, but I'm one month into a 2 month general board ban so Hawks gonna need to make in a couple rounds before I can support them on the GB.

Before anyone asks, my ban was for making a timely joke about the WNBA that was not appreciated by the snowflake politically correct police who mod the general board.

shakes0 · Post #19 » by **shakes0** » Mon May 17, 2021 8:05 pm

DirtybirdGA wrote:Can Jamaliver represent you in Message Board court?

not a bad idea. The guy who banned me is Jamaalstar so maybe the two Jamals would cancel each other out?

shakes0 · Post #20 » by **shakes0** » Mon May 17, 2021 9:01 pm

not gonna lie when I say I've googled "nba playoffs 2021 schedule announced" 10x today. WTF, how long does it take to say Hawks vs Knicks Saturday at noon?

How does the Hawks - Knicks series play out?