The New York Knicks were blown out by the Atlanta Hawks 96 to 113 and have fallen behind 3-1 in their first-round series.
The Knicks kept things close through the first half, but Atlanta stepped on the gas in the third. The Knicks offense continues to struggle while Atlanta thrives behind the play of its leaders.
Things got chippy in strange fashion. John Collins and Julius Randle collided, and Collins went to the locker room to get stitches. Kevin Huerter and Danilo Gallinari seemed to respond with their own dirty plays on Nerlens Noel and Reggie Bullock. Randle hit Gallo with a tough foul in response. The refs ejected him for the obvious dirty play. It wasn’t pretty, frustration boiling over for both sides.
Beyond that, the bright side is that RJ Barrett finally found his offense. Julius Randle had his highest-scoring game, but I’d label this his worst performance. Reggie Bullock, Alec Burks, and Immanuel Quickley had struggles of their own. Meanwhile, Obi Toppin is playing his best basketball when it matters most. Let’s explore this brutal loss and talk performances.
RJ Barrett comes to life, but the starters continue to struggle
Derrick Rose: Derrick Rose played another fantastic game but was laboring off the court by the end of his minutes. He’s led the Knicks as far and away their best player so far. This game continued to trends of the series. His floater and mid-range game have opened up passing lanes, and he’s cashing in open three-pointers as well.
Rose played 33 minutes, hauling in 18 points, 6 assists to 0 turnovers, and 2 rebounds. He shot 7/15 from the floor, 2/4 from three, and 2/2 from the free-throw line. He did seem to fatigue toward the end of his stretch out there, though. By the time Rose exited the floor, he looked labored and exhausted.
The former MVP has been brilliant throughout these playoffs. His poise on offense has kept the team competitive for as long as he holds up. But there were signs of slowing down here. He can’t shoulder the offense on his own, and the minutes might be catching up to him. Rose gets a 4 out of 5 for his impact in this one.
Reggie Bullock: Reggie Bullock didn’t score a point in this game. I don’t care how well he defends. New York can’t afford a scoreless night from their floor spacer. He has become an easy hiding place for Trae Young on defense.
Bullock played 34 minutes, going scoreless with 2 assists, 4 rebounds, and 1 turnover. The turnover was ugly too. He turned a 2 on 1 with RJ Barrett into a momentum-killing travel. Bully shot 0/4 from the field and 0/3 from three. He was a no-show on offense.
The 3 and D wing was off his game and wound up at the heart of the controversy late. He took an elbow from Danilo Gallinari. His reaction earned a technical foul, and Julius Randle got himself ejected for retaliating. Bullock didn’t do anything else to warrant attention. He gets an impact score of 1 out of 5.
RJ Barrett: RJ Barrett had his best game of the postseason by a comfortable margin. He still missed too many open looks from three, but RJ found his game going toward the basket. The key was in the playmaking as Barrett threw some lovely passes early, which opened up his own offense later.
Barrett managed 21 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 steals in 36 minutes. He shot 8/15 from the field, 2/6 from three, and 3/4 from the free-throw line. The sophomore got his offense going with smart passing and a steady dose of transition offense. He continually beat the Hawks with fast-break offense inside.
Broadway Barrett hasn’t made an appearance yet, but this was close. Some of his offense came when the game was out of reach, and he bricked open looks that were needed to space the floor. But overall, RJ had a good game that was propelled by playmaking of transition play. If his jumper comes around, RJ Barrett will be ready to take back his leading role in the offense. He gets a 3 out of 5 for impact.
Julius Randle: Julius Randle’s offense showed signs of life, but this was his worst performance so far, by my estimation. He hit more shots, scored more points, and picked up more assists than any other playoff game. But the third-quarter collapse was sparked when Randle’s play got out of control, and his turnovers proved detrimental.
The Knicks star played 36 minutes and dropped 23 points, 10 rebounds, 7 assists, 2 steals, and 5 turnovers. He shot 7/19 from the field, 2/4 from three, 7/9 from the line. His offense was coming around, but Randle still settled for too many contested jumpers. The Hawks have gotten away with switching guards onto the big man far too often without being challenged.
Randle’s third-quarter struggles turned into clear frustration late. After the Hawks made a couple of highly questionable plays, Randle defended his teammates with a retaliatory bump. That’s not a play that the star should be making. I respect the sentiment, but I’m not sure it’s the right play or player in that situation. We can only hope it galvanizes New York for the next one. Randle gets a 2 out of 5 for his impact on this one…it was worse than the numbers suggest.
Taj Gibson: Meanwhile, Taj Gibson’s performance was better than his numbers suggest. Doris Burke realized as much and pointed it out during the broadcast. Gibson’s effort is impossible to ignore, and the team feeds off it at times. At one point, Taj stopped a fast break by himself despite being surrounded by Hawks.
Gibson played 24 minutes, finishing with 6 points, 3 boards, 1 assist, 1 block, 2 steals, and 1 turnover. He went 3/4 from the field, all under the basket. The former Bull made plays when the Knicks needed it and did the grinding work otherwise. Even if his numbers are light, his presence was felt throughout his time on the floor.
Gibson has been consistent, a trait he shares with Derrick Rose and Obi Toppin alone. He’s constantly making things happen, be it a loose ball or a quick two points. He can do a little bit in every category, which means he always finds ways to help. Gibson comes away with a 3 out of 5 for his impact score.
Knicks bench no better than the starters for New York
Alec Burks: Alec Burks hasn’t been good since his first game explosion. Burks always takes some wild shots, but his shot selection has hit frustrating levels for the past two games. Ball movement for the entire team has fallen apart, but the second unit without Rose’s guiding hand has become prone to missing open cutter, mostly Obi. The look-offs stand out for Burks, who will miss a wide-open player in the lane only to take a contested pull-up three that bricks.
Burks shot 4/12 from the field, 2/6 from three, and 2/2 from the free-throw line over 25 minutes of action. He scored 12 points, 6 boards, 1 assist, and 1 steal in that span. Credit the Hawks for limiting his easy looks, but he’s not helping himself. The scoring vet usually finds seams in the offense to be elusive and score where they leave him space…he’s not finding space but forcing things up anyway right now.
That’s not to say that Burks doesn’t have his moments. Once in a while, Burks will fly into the lane and get all the way to the bucket. He hasn’t finished everything, but his ability to get inside could open things up if he mixes in some playmaking. It may be too little too late now. His 33% from the field was his best percentage in the past 3 games. For this one, Burks grabs a 2 out of 5 on impact grade.
Immanuel Quickley: Immanuel Quickley’s scoreless game isn’t quite as bad as Reggie Bullock’s, but only because he played fewer minutes. The rookie hasn’t cracked 25% from the field since game one, and he’s made it easy on the Hawks’ defense in the same way that Burks has. IQ is settling from the field and completely missing open shooters or cutters in route to poor performances.
Pressing is the word of the day for the bench backcourt. Quickley went 0/3 from the field and 0/2 from three in 13 minutes. He went scoreless with 1 assist and 2 rebounds for tallies. We can’t blame the rotation changes this time either. Thibodeau made a conscious effort to get Rose in there with the bench unit for chunks of time. That didn’t solve the poor shot selection or isolation-heavy approach.
A lot will be made about Julius Randle’s struggles and how much they’ve impacted the Knicks. But look at Bullock, Burks, and Immanuel Quickley to see the problem runs deeper. These are the shot makers for the Knicks, but they aren’t even making the gimmes. The rookie of that group showed incredible poise in game one, but that’s evaporated over the past three games. It culminates in his worst performance of the series, one with fewer minutes than warrants an impact grade.
Obi Toppin: Obi Toppin gave Knicks fans a reason to smile again. Amid the doldrums and the struggles, Obi continues to flash potential beyond anything he showed in the regular season. He’s playing his most confident ball of the season, taking players off the dribble and pulling jumpers whenever he has space. The best (and worst) part is that Toppin could have even more impressive stat-lines if players caught him running the floor more often.
Obi put up 13 points, 1 assist, and 3 rebounds on 5/8 from the field and 1/3 from three. He knocked down 2 free throws to boot. He did this all in 19 minutes of action. His production has been steady with the minutes that he gets. For a brief spell, Thibodeau even trusted Obi to share the floor with Randle. I’d like to see more of that small-ball approach, at least while nothing else seems to be working.
The best aspect of Obi’s post-season is that we’re still only scratching the surface. He’s getting the most of a skill set that’s still raw in key areas. His left-handed drive past Gallo isn’t common but could be with some ball-handling work. His jumper is a work in progress that we already see growth in. The rookie’s athleticism is striking, but as his skills develop, it could become overwhelming. Obi grabs a 3.5 out of 5 for his impact grade.
Nerlens Noel: Nerlens Noel didn’t get much out of his minutes but wasn’t as bad as the numbers say. Noel was present and put in similar dirty work to Taj Gibson; he barely scratched the stat sheet to go with his boxing out or challenged shots. It was a quiet game but not a lost cause entirely.
Noel played just 15 minutes, managing 1 point, 2 boards, and 1 turnover without attempting a field goal. I think that switching Noel with Taj might be having a bigger impact on the bench than the Rose move. The second unit doesn’t seem to utilize their new center at all, and the defensive rotations aren’t as clean. That means the shot blocker is less effective across the board.
The elephant in the room is that Noel has been hurt. His move to the bench came after conspicuous appearances in the injury report. The big man isn’t particularly agile when he’s healthy and with a bum ankle that only becomes worse. He’s chasing around a small ball second unit that only exacerbates the problem. Noel gets a 1.5 out of 5 for his impact grade, a tough game but forgivable in my book.
Tom Thibodeau’s team is losing composure
Tom Thibodeau: Tom Thibodeau can’t “we’ll figure it out” his way around the struggles anymore. It’s do or die, and his team lost composure in this loss. He did make some attempts at adjustments that I understood but didn’t like in terms of decision-making. RJ Barrett made it apparent that he was having a better game from early on. But Thibs sat Barrett to get Rose extra minutes with the bench unit that he’d propelled in the past. It’s understandable, but Rose could have used the rest and Barrett the show of confidence.
I understand why Thibodeau refuses to move away from Julius Randle, the team’s engine all season long. But the playoffs don’t leave the margin for error that a tough series would impart on Randle. The star’s third-quarter got out of control until a Thibodeau timeout, and it was too late by that point. The Knicks punched back, but the Hawks only needed a quick timeout to retake control. Watching the momentum shifts out of timeouts would be interesting for this series. It feels like Thibs’ has been outcoached coming out of most breaks.
The coaching performance review can’t end without referencing the chippy fouls late. Reggie Bullock picked up that T, and Randle got thrown out as the game got out of hand. The team showed Randle love for his hard foul, but I doubt Thibodeau was happy. That was the most life that Bullock and Randle showed all damned game. He gave them huge minutes that were detrimental to the team. They repaid him with ugly fouls in a badly lost game. Tom Thibodeau gets a 1 out of 5 for letting this game and series fall out of control.
Closing Thoughts: I’m not ready to surrender y’all. The Knicks just lost two ugly games, and it reached a low point with the Randle foul. But I was as desperate as the players for an answer to the showboating and BS that the Hawks had pulled. I think Julius Randle’s foul was poorly executed, a bad look. But the Knicks needed an excuse to get hype. I’ll cling to this one for hope that it galvanizes a group that otherwise looked lost.
The talent deficit becomes clear as the Hawks hit tough shots while the Knicks can’t make the easy ones. For four games, I’ve been waiting for them to snap into gear. But at this point, there has been a bit of acceptance coming over me. This team has vastly overachieved expectations, and they are far ahead of the place I expected them to be after last offseason…the lottery. Leon Rose will have tougher decisions to make after these post-season struggles. But that was always going to be the case. I’m frustrated, but the bigger picture looks lovely with cap space, picks, and more talent on hand than we expected.
The Knicks have no choice but to take this one game at a time. They’re heading back to MSG, where home court has been a massive advantage throughout the season. The Hawks’ role players were brave in front of a supportive crowd, but Gallo and Huerter looked a lot more timid in New York. Let’s hope that the combination of an angry Knicks team and a crowd behind them can help swing the series momentum and reapply some pressure. I’m not ready to give up Knicks fam! I hope y’all aren’t either. I’ll see you after the next one!
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