Jump to content
  • Hawks at Knicks

       (0 reviews)

    lethalweapon3

    “Dolan’s posse on my tail, ‘cause I’m in demand!”

     

    It’s Breakfast at Madison Square Garden! The Atlanta Hawks and the New York Knicks are taking Centre Court a little early this Sunday (12:00 noon Eastern, Fox Sports Southeast and 92.9 FM in ATL, MSG Network in NYC). I’ve got a busy week ahead myself, so rather than a full spread, in these game threads I’ll provide some tidbits for the upcoming games, including some strawberries-and-cream for this mid-day matchup.

     

    • What is up, schedule gods? Only two games so far this season involved the Hawks (9-3) facing an opponent coming off a back-to-back. The Hornets had two full days off before nipping Atlanta’s six-game winning streak in the bud on Friday night. Recent Hawks opponents included the Bucks (three days off), and the Rockets (two days off), and the Cavs (two days off). When Atlanta returns home, they’ll take on a Pelicans team that had two days of rest. Today, they visit a Knicks squad that has been off since Thursday, although that team has spent much of its time stewing.

    • The Knicks (5-7) thought they were climbing out of an early-season rut after home wins over Dallas and Detroit this past week, but they were sent reeling once again when they were tripped up in Washington by another reeling team. Before toppling New York, the Wizards (now 3-9) had just dropped their third-straight game one night before in Philadelphia (now 3-10), where’s it’s not always sunny.

    • “On the road you should be 10 times [as focused], it should be 10 times more important to go in somebody’s house and win,” lamented sixth-man guard Brandon Jennings to Newsday following the loss to the Zards. “This is a team that was desperate for a win and they got one. They just lost to Philly and they come and beat us? Nah… We definitely need to be more desperate. Every game, from here on out we need to be desperate. We play for the New York Knicks. Everybody wants to beat us. It’s a known national team.”

    • The Knicks have been running in different directions on offense, at times trying to execute Jeff Hornacek’s new schemes, at times looking over their shoulder as the Zen Master implores the team to run more Triangle sets, at times getting iso-happy and doing their own things. They ended their night in D.C. on the losing side of a 119-112 score, but things were much worse when they found themselves with just 42 halftime points and down 87-65 through three quarters.

    • New York is at their best when they key in on post-up plays, using the crafty maneuvering of Carmelo Anthony (22.3 PPG, 53.1 2FG%) and the height and length of Kristaps Porzingis (20.3 PPG, 54.4 FG%) to their advantage. The Knicks are one of two teams (joined by their borough mates in Brooklyn) that have made more than half of their shots on post-up plays, scoring at least one point league-high 53.1 percent of the time.

    • Counter-intuitive to the offensive mindsets of Jennings and Derrick Rose, New York takes just 22.0 drives per game (2nd-lowest in NBA), scoring just 15.8 PPG (2nd lowest in East) off drives toward the hoop.

    • Until recently, Anthony and Rose have been playing too much of a two-man game to the exclusion of their teammates, including the prodigious Porzingis. While each have started to produce more plays for Kristaps (40.0 3FG%, 35 points vs. DET on Wednesday), they need to get others involved along the perimeter, including swingmen Courtney Lee and Mindaugas Kuzminskas (each 40.0 3FG%) and ex-Hawk Justin Holiday (42.3 3FG%).

    • The Knicks’ real problem, to few people’s surprise, is on the other end of the floor. New York allows 108.8 points per 100 possessions to opponents, a shade ahead of Portland (108.9) for the worst mark in the NBA. With all of his height, Porzingis is often deployed to help defensively deficient guards patrol the three-point line (37.0 opponent 3FG%, 4th-highest in NBA), the Knicks find themselves springing a leak around the rim. They allow 15.4 second-chance PPG (3rd-worst in NBA) as opponents’ 26.3 O-Reb% ranks as the 4th-most in the league.

    • The Knicks also board-crash a lot on the offensive end (27.3 O-Reb%, 5th in NBA), but that doesn’t help them get back in transition as well as they’d like. Center Joakim Noah remains admittedly slowed by past injuries, and Hornacek has turned more often to Porzingis as a “small”-ball 5 than to reserve big man Kyle O’Quinn (career-low 10.2 minutes per game).

    • For the Hawks’ frontline, the head-to-head matchups with the Knicks will seem transitive relative to the opponents in Charlotte. Paul Millsap goes from facing ample backside to ample upside with Porzingis. Dwight Howard got the Ashton Kutcher treatment from Charlotte’s Cody Zeller, and now the seasoned Noah will pull whatever tricks he can out of his bag, in his limited time on the floor, to distract and dissuade Howard from getting the job done.

    • Whether it’s due to foul trouble or an injury or an ejection, Millsap (team-high 17.3 PPG) has willingly covered for Howard’s absences on the floor to the best of his ability, as has the improved Mike Muscala. But as demonstrated in the closing minutes in Charlotte, going into crunch-time without Howard on the floor is not sustainable.

    • Kent Bazemore will have his hands full with Anthony and will need to help force tough mid-range jumpers without fouling. Bazemore has struggled defensively against taller opponents, especially when they’re granted touches in the paint. Including his need to make Anthony work on the defensive end, Bazemore’s floor time will be integral to Atlanta’s success today, especially if Thabo Sefolosha (knee sprain) remains unavailable.

    • The Knicks are pressed to begin the process of shifting from Melo to Porzingis as a first-option in their offense. Similarly, the Hawks also some transitioning to consider. If starting guard Kyle Korver is on the floor for nearly 30 minutes, as was the case versus the Hornets, it’s likely not with the intention that he get three three-point attempts up. His 4.7 3FG attempts per game are the lowest since his years as a reserve in Chicago and Utah.

    • It is important for coach Mike Budenholzer to direct more of the ball from the point guards and bigs out to get Kyle (40.4 3FG%, career-high 55.6 2FG%) more touches. But as Korver becomes less effective as a decoy on offense and a helper on defense (no rebounds, steals or blocks @ CHA on Friday), it is time to other options starting at the 2-spot, including a guy that was once the lead scorer for a banged-up Knicks team.

    • In exchange for a one-year rental of rookie Jerian Grant, the Knicks disposed of Tim Hardaway, Jr., who now resides in Atlanta. He does have a ways to go with perimeter shots (32.8 3FG%) and passing, and his free throw shooting has momentarily regressed (65.6 FT%). But he is attacking the rim with authority (66.0 2FG%, 3rd in NBA; Muscala’s 73.6% ranks 1st), and is building rapport with Atlanta’s first and second units.

    • Baze (34.8 3FG%, 7-for-10 2FGs but 4 TOs @ CHA) as the starting 2-guard is the better long-term play. But the Hawks’ bench may be better served in the interim by a pairing of Korver with the eventually returning Sefolosha at the wing. Among Atlanta’s top-20 2-man combos, either of Hardaway or Sefolosha are part of six of the Hawks’ seven-best lineup tandems, in terms of net points per 100 possessions (the sole starter in that septet being Millsap).
    • Baze-and-Kyle are at minus-3.4 net points per-100 (201 minutes together), while Baze-and-Timmy are a positive +7.2 (71 minutes). The not-so-grumpy, not-so-old men Kyle-and-Thabo have been +32.4 points per-100 net scoring, but have only shared the floor for 21 minutes this season.

     

    Let’s Go Hawks!

    ~lw3


      Report Record



    User Feedback

    Join the conversation

    You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

    Guest

×
×
  • Create New...