Down 12 entering the 4th quarter, Atlanta goes on a tear to take down New York and shock the MSG crowd and tie the series.
Coming off a stunning, fourth-quarter comeback in Game 2 of their first-round series against the New York Knicks, the Atlanta Hawks are looking to maintain home-court advantage with the series moving to Atlanta.
The Hawks won 14 of their last 15 regular-season games at State Farm Arena, but the one loss (Apr. 6) was to the Knicks, who won their first five road games (by a total of 10 points) in last year’s playoffs.
Here are three things to watch with both teams looking to take a 2-1 series lead in Game 3 on Thursday (7 p.m. ET, Prime Video).
1. Bench play
Starters’ minutes are extended in the playoffs, but one big difference between the Knicks’ win in Game 1 and the Hawks’ win in Game 2 was how the teams performed with reserves on the floor …
- In Game 1, the Knicks outscored the Hawks by six points in Jalen Brunson’s 11:36 on the bench.
- In Game 2, they were outscored by four points in Brunson’s 11:53 on the bench.
Karl-Anthony Towns was also on the bench for almost all (11:22) of that 11:53 that Brunson rested in Game 2, and the Knicks scored just 16 points on 23 offensive possessions in that time. His bench ranked third this season, which is a small sample size, but small sample sizes are all you get in the playoffs. Coach Mike Brown may choose to stagger (or extend) his All-Stars’ minutes a little more on Thursday.
For the Hawks, Jonathan Kuminga is an X-factor. After a quiet night in Game 1, the 23-year-old played almost 35 minutes in Game 2, scoring 19 points and adding two steals and a block on defense. And he was on the floor instead of All-Defense candidate Dyson Daniels as the Hawks held the Knicks to just six points on nine clutch possessions.
With backup center Jock Landale out, the Hawks may be undersized and outmanned at the five, but can play bigger at the other positions, especially with the Knicks using three small (and/or slight) guards – Jordan Clarkson, Miles McBride and Jose Alvarado – off the bench.
2. Late-clock execution
The Knicks had one of the best (and most-used) late-clock offenses in the league. They ranked second in effective field goal percentage (51.2%) in the last seven seconds of the shot clock and fourth in the percentage of their shots (22%) that came in the last seven seconds.
It’s good to be good late in the clock, but it’s better not to have so many long possessions. Every team’s effective field goal percentage was much lower in the last seven seconds of the shot clock than it was otherwise.
In this series, the Knicks have struggled late in the clock. They’re just 12-for-46 (including 4-for-16 from 3-point range) in the final seven seconds of the shot clock through Game 2. That’s an effective goal percentage of just 30.4%, compared to 63.8% through the first 17 seconds.
Here was a critical possession late in Game 2 where the Knicks walked the ball up the floor and couldn’t get the ball to Towns in the post. So the ball remains 30 feet from the basket and ends up in the hands of Josh Hart with six seconds left on the clock …
Hart has been a much-improved 3-point shooter this season, but his shooting a pull-up 3 with three seconds left on the clock is a pretty good result for the Hawks …
The Hawks haven’t been as efficient early in the clock, but they’ve had to work late about half as often…
Shooting in the last 7 seconds of the shot clock
| Team | FGM | FGA | FG% | 3PM | eFG% | %FGA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New York | 12 | 46 | 26.1% | 4 | 30.4% | 29% |
| Atlanta | 8 | 25 | 32.0% | 2 | 36.0% | 15% |
eFG% = (FGM + (0.5 * 3PM)) / FGA
%FGA = Percentage of total FGA
Credit the Hawks’ defense for some of the Knicks’ struggles late in the clock. Nickeil-Alexander Walker has had some timely stops against Brunson, and they’ve all been pretty disciplined when he gets into the paint, staying down on pump fakes and contesting his shots without fouling.
The Knicks should still have better success late in the clock as the series continues. But they should also play with a bit more pace to avoid so many late-clock situations.
3. Towns in the post
The Knicks were trying to get the ball to Towns in the post against Kuminga in that possession illustrated above. But Kuminga denied the entry pass and the Knicks were left scrambling late in the clock.
Onyeka Okongwu has been the Hawks player who has defended Towns the most, but he’s also been matched up with a lot of smaller Hawks. Sometimes it’s been Dyson Daniels, so Atlanta can switch the Brunson-Towns pick-and-roll.
Towns has, at times, taken advantage of those mismatches on the glass. But according to tracking data, he’s had just four post-ups over the two games, the same number as Brunson.
Okongwu forced him into a tough shot in the fourth quarter on Monday, but Towns’ other three post-ups were against Kuminga (who fouled him) and Mouhamed Gueye. Against Gueye, he made a short jump hook and missed a short turnaround.
We could see the Knicks be a little quicker to get Towns the ball in the post when he’s matched up with a smaller defender in Game 3. And if he can take advantage of his size inside, that could open things up elsewhere on the floor.
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John Schuhmann has covered the NBA for more than 20 years. You can e-mail him here, find his archive here and follow him on Bluesky.
