Knicks-Hawks: What we learned
Knicks' Karl-Anthony Towns reacts during the third quarter against the Atlanta Hawks in Game 6 of an Eastern Conference first-round playoff matchup on Thursday in Atlanta, Ga. Credit: Getty Images/Kevin C. Cox
ATLANTA — And then the Knicks rested.
No, I don’t mean for the last three quarters Thursday as they coasted to a 140-89 win over the Atlanta Hawks at State Farm Arena to finish off their opening-round series in six games. I mean the rest that the Knicks will get now, a chance to catch their breath before moving on to the Eastern Conference semifinals for a fourth straight season.
They just don’t know whom they are preparing for — Philadelphia dragged Boston into a seventh game — so the Knicks will play Monday night either in Boston or against Philadelphia at Madison Square Garden.
Here’s a look at what we learned and will come next.
Formula discovered
Mike Brown spoke before Thursday night’s game and got one thing wrong — that close-out games are always the hardest game of the season — but he got it right that the Hawks made the Knicks get better. It’s hard to remember, but after dropping a pair of one-point games, the Knicks faced a two-games-to-one deficit in the series. At that point, the coaching staff changed the offense, working through Karl-Anthony Towns. The result? Wins of 16, 29 and 51 points. Towns got a pair of triple-doubles in those three games as he found cutters and open shooters against the Hawks' undersized centers.
Go to the videotape
The league certainly will review the scuffle involving Mitchell Robinson in the second quarter, but it’s hard to imagine that he’ll be suspended for Game 1 of the next round. He and Dyson Daniels were ejected with the Knicks up by 50 points when it occurred, and no punches appeared to be thrown. The only issue might be that the scrum drifted up against the courtside seats and fans.
Robinson matters. He was a staggering +29 in nine minutes and went 3-for-3 from the floor with three rebounds and two blocked shots.
OG statement
OG Anunoby doesn’t say a lot, but he has said he wants to be the NBA Defensive Player of the Year, and that didn’t happen this season. But he not only made a case for All-Defensive first team in this series but quietly outplayed Jalen Johnson by a large margin, and Johnson could be an All-NBA team member this season. With Atlanta desperate to slow down Jalen Brunson, Anunoby arguably was the best two-way player in the series.
Steve Popper covers the Knicks for Newsday. He has spent nearly three decades covering the Knicks and the NBA, along with just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
