Barbara Barker: Knicks are East's hottest team
Knicks guard Mikal Bridges goes up for a layup against the Hawks in the first half of Game 6 during an Eastern Conference first-round playoff matchup on Thursday in Atlanta. Credit: AP/Brynn Anderson
Did you catch that Knicks score, Boston? What about you, Philadelphia? Did you happen to see any of the highlights from the historically heavy 140-89 hammering the Knicks gave the Atlanta Hawks to close out their first-round series in six games Thursday night?
Oh, I forgot. You were too busy playing Game 6 of your surprisingly tight series to watch a second of one of the most dominating closeout games ever played.
Well, here is one big takeaway you both can ponder as you head back to Boston for Saturday’s deciding Game 7: The Knicks team that one of you will play in the Eastern Conference semifinals is playing not only its best basketball of the season but its best basketball since this starting five was assembled.
Yes, this Knicks team is better than the team that went to the Eastern Conference finals last season after a stunning upset of the Celtics in the second round. It’s taken 88 games — an entire season and six playoff games — but they finally look like a team that is driven and determined to go deep into the playoffs.
“You could see what a good team they are and why they are a contender,” Hawks coach Quin Snyder said after his team emerged from the buzzsaw.
Yes, a contender. The Knicks are starting to look as if they just might be one, or at least be the best team not in the Western Conference. While so many of the elite teams in the Eastern Conference have struggled, the Knicks bounced back from a 1-2 start to this series with three dominating performances, beating the Hawks by 16, 29 and 51 points.
Actually, dominating seems like too nice a word to describe what the Knicks did to the Hawks on Thursday. Their first half had to be one of the finest first halves ever produced in the playoffs. After the Knicks set a playoff record by taking a 47-point lead into halftime, Shaquille O’Neal kicked off ESPN’s halftime time show by pretending to perform CPR compressions on a stuffed doll of Harry the Hawk, Atlanta’s mascot.
Their 51-point final margin of victory was seven points shy of tying the playoff record, and their 140 points were the most in franchise playoff history. The Knicks twice led the Hawks by 61 points, the largest lead in a playoff game in the play-by-play era (since 1996-97).
Yet it’s not just the gaudy numbers that made this win so impressive. It’s the growth the team has shown in this series to get to this point.
The Knicks had some big wins against good teams this season, but they often would follow that with a loss to a team they should beat. They have been infuriatingly inconsistent despite having as much individual talent as most of their opponents.
All of this seemed to come to a head after the Knicks' Game 3 loss when Jalen Brunson was smothered by the Hawks' defense and turned the ball over on the final possession.
Since then, the Knicks have made sure they are not in tough games.
They’ve done it by playing killer defense. They’ve done it by running their offense through Karl-Anthony Towns, who had a triple-double (12 points, 11 rebounds, 10 assists) despite making only one field goal. They’ve done it by OG Anunoby playing like an All-Star, averaging 21.5 points and 8.7 rebounds and making 56.7% of his three-point attempts.
The Knicks are showing they can win in different ways with different weapons. They don’t have to depend on Brunson to bail them out of every tight spot, though he’s had his fair share of big moments. Heck, even the much-beleaguered Mikal Bridges had a big night Thursday, finishing with 24 points and 10-for-12 shooting.
“I think it shows the kind of team that we are and the kind of team we can be,” said Josh Hart, who was key in helping the Knicks maintain their high-octane pace.
The Knicks now have three days before opening the next round Monday either at Madison Square Garden against Philadelphia or at Boston.
Said Towns: “I don’t think it should matter who we play as long as the Knicks play our best version of ourselves. When we do that, we can win every night.”
Barbara Barker is an award-winning columnist and features writer in the sports department at Newsday. She has covered sports in New York for more than 20 years.
