Official Game Thread: Hawks at Knicks

[lethalweapon3]

“Oh, cool! Hawks defender costumes for Halloween!”

 

After getting tarred and feathered a by VanVleet-less Raptor squad, our Atlanta Hawks mercifully conclude their five-game road excursion by facing the Knickerbockers.

You all remember the Knicks, no? New York City’s least problematic NBA franchise? Does that help jog your memory?

The one with perfectly sound ownership, competent management, a head coach on solid ground, a dedicated legion of ticket-holders, and players who keep their business and their musings off Elon’s latest personal playscape? Including a sensible guard manning the point, and a bucket-hunting forward who, despite his many critics, genuinely seems to want to play here? Y’know, the professional basketball team in Gotham that has their Dellavedova together? Right! The Knicks!

They’re the halfway-winning one, too. Despite losing two straight on the road, by 11 at Milwaukee and 13 at Cleveland, the Knicks (3-3) return undefeated, here at home (7:30 PM Eastern, Bally Sports Southeast and 92.9 FM in ATL, MSG Network in NYC), finding it unfathomable that nothing they do, on or off the court, earns them high-profile ink space in the tabloid New York Post. Not the back page, not the front page, not Page Six.

You want steaming controversy? Best we can drudge up is whether summertime free agent Jalen Brunson consulted his suspiciously-hired assistant-coach pops before bailing Lukaland for the Manhattan project. And, consequentially, whether the Association will rap his new team’s knuckles by, say, snatching up a second-rounder or two, or issuing some ham-fisted press release assuring the public that there is no place for subterfuge anywhere on the planet, that their commitment to free agency ethics is the league’s highest priority, at the moment, or something.

In Sunday’s 121-108 defeat of New York, Cleveland’s Donovan Mitchell gave the Knicks Fan Comic Universe accumulating regrets that team prez Leon Rose didn’t give away the store to bring him home in the offseason. But predictable results and hindsight reactions aren’t all that newsworthy.

Questions abound whether the team could have fared just as well drafting De’Andre Hunter (44.4 3FG%, essentially a team-high until Hawks coach Nate McMillan discovers AJ Griffin exists) instead of RJ Barrett (17.7 PPG, career-lows of 40.0 FG% and 2.2 APG, and zero steals despite career-high 35.0 MPG). Some aren’t all that sure that Cam Reddish isn’t secretly Two-Face (22 bench points and 3 steals in NYK’s season debut; 42.3 FG% with a blips of stat-lines in the five games since). But that’s not enough banter to fill a Mad Dog radio segment.

With all the messy goings-on over in the other b-ball borough, the Hawks drawing a standing-room-only crowd to MSG is quite the palate cleanser. That’s because tonight’s a boffo off-Broadway bonanza, as The Phantom of the Opera, Trae Young is there, still inside Knick Fans’ minds.

Sure, Young comes off the rare slip-ple double (14 points, 10 assists, 10 TOs) from Monday’s humbling 139-109 pasting of the Hawks in Toronto, dropping Atlanta (4-3) to 0-2 on third-game-in-four-nights affairs. Yet he plays tonight with a heavy heart following the untimely demise of yet another prominent local rhyme-spitter (Rest in Power, Takeoff!). If Trae bounces back and the Hawks prevail tonight, you can bet his performance will be of the dedicated variety.

Grimacing Knick fans were left clutching their Playbills tightly when Young last took the stage here. His 45 points (7-for-15 3FGs) and 8 dimes back in March were EGOT-worthy in getting his team back, momentarily, to .500 ball. But the best supporting role on that evening came from Bogdan Bogdanovic, who stole the ball thrice while piling on 32 points off the bench to steal the show, too.

Bogi won’t bail the Hawks out anytime soon. But while he hangs out with deserving Sports Emmy nominee Bob Rathbun behind the microphone, recovering from knee surgery, and as Onyeka Okongwu (questionable) nurses a sore shoulder, the onus is on starters John Collins (team-high 12 rebounds, but 1-for-6 3FGs, one assist, no stocks, one FTA, six fouls @ TOR) and Clint Capela to play like more than what one expects from understudies.

Young and Dejounte Murray will find the relative lack of on-ball defensive pressure to their liking. As will the Knicks’ Brunson and Evan Fournier (40.5 3FG%), particularly whenever the Hawks fall for okie-dokes and contract around ballhandlers to leave shooters wide open. But there will be plenty of missed shots to go around, and we will wonder at times whether the defensive bigs for both the Hawks (27^th in D-Reb%) and Knicks (28^th; NYC’s other team is 29^th so, there’s that) fell into some space-time continuum when caroms fall beneath the hoop.

If Double-O’s a no-go, bench minutes for Jalen Johnson and Frank Kaminsky are likely to be expanded. Keeping the frontcourt backups from being essential for victory, Collins and Capela must be more active in demanding the rock inside, finishing bunnies, working collaboratively to secure boards, passing from the post, and staying out of foul trouble against Randle, Obi Toppin and Knick windmills Mitchell Robinson and Isiah Hartenstein.

Brunson (18.2 PPG, 7.2 APG, 1.7 TOs/game) is not perfect, as Grace Jones might put it, but he’s perfect for this team, one which relied for too long on Derrick Rose and Immanuel Quickley to be the star point guards they either once were or were hoped to become. Brunson’s court composure has taken the pressure off of Randle and Barrett to excel consistently, and thereby taken the Knicks out of the NYC media’s hyperactive headlines.

The Knicks faithful are used to being the local laughingstocks. But at least they can go to sleep not worrying whether they’ll wake up to, perhaps, Brunson’s private questions about the veracity of Armenian genocide becoming a breathtaking Breaking News banner. Or Randle hitting send on cryptic tweets, or getting caught clapping back at disaffected fans and fantasy owners with a Firstnamebunchofnumbers account.

There’ll be no skepticism if the team issues a full-throated defense of Coach Thibs’ unassailable job standing, no wonders if he’ll be replaced by Isiah Thomas under cover of night. And no concerns as to whether Reddish wants to shoot the ball, or if Cam prefers being a courtside fashion model to playing basketball for money. Much like their division rivals from Toronto, the Knicks got a couple of days off on the heels of a deflating loss before facing Atlanta, all while Brooklyn burned. No matter how well New York plays tonight, it’s unquestionable that the team and its fans, have slept well.

Oscar-winning Atlanta native Spike Lee was clowned for years about never coming over to the bright side and becoming a full-time front-row Nets fan, and goodness knows he’s been given ample reasons to take the plunge. At least for now, it appears as though Mookie truly did Do The Right Thing.

 

Let’s Go Hawks!

~lw3

[BrazilianHawk]

The Knicks? Eh, easy pickings. Or are they? 

 

LET'S GO HAWKS!

[Gray Mule]

Don't forget all those Knickerbocker fans who wanted to make love to Trae when we were there during the playoffs.  They continued to yell that at him.  Couldn't tell if it was gals or gays.

To have a successful road trip, the Hawks need this one!

GO ATL HAWKS !!

[Final_quest]

If we win tonight, it's back to DeJohnTrae all the way!

[NBASupes]

Must win

[Spud2nique]

2 hours ago, lethalweapon3 said:

Dellavedova

I thought it was Devlin? 

 

2 hours ago, lethalweapon3 said:

Onyeka Okongwu (questionable) nurses a sore shoulder,

Ugh comon O.

 

2 hours ago, lethalweapon3 said:

Brunson’s private questions about the veracity of Armenian genocide becoming a breathtaking Breaking News banner.

 

2 hours ago, lethalweapon3 said:

Cam

Uh oh. He plays and he wants our blood …

 

2 hours ago, lethalweapon3 said:

At least for now, it appears as though Mookie truly did Do The Right Thing.

 

Always the man lw3! Preppin us and gettin us ready to ball!

Vegas has the Knicks -2.5

Trae isn’t gonna love that.

GO HAWKS!!!!!!!

[shakes]

10 minutes ago, NBASupes said:

Must win

[Spud2nique]

10 minutes ago, NBASupes said:

Must win

Dang already? It’s game 8.  But ya.. we need to beat who we need to beat. 

[JayBirdHawk]

Rebounds, Freethrows, Turnovers!!!!

[GameTime]

Trae better show up in New York

 

[JayBirdHawk]

24 minutes ago, GameTime said:

Trae better show up in New York

 

That always warms My .  

[terrell]

Please dont lose this game tonight Hawks.. 

Need a big game from Trae after that horrendous stinker....

And Hunter and JC show me something tonight.. ANYTHING

Hate the fkn Knicks and their fans..

 

[JeffS17]

Our guards + Hunter should be feasting tonight.  If they don't, we're in trouble.  JC and Capela need to be close to 10 boards a piece.  I really do not want to lose this game so I'm with supes -- must win.

[JayBirdHawk]

 

 

[JeffS17]

Is Bogi's knee toast forever?  I haven't heard any concrete updates on it or timelines -- maybe I missed them?

[JayBirdHawk]

3 minutes ago, JeffS17 said:

Is Bogi's knee toast forever?  I haven't heard any concrete updates on it or timelines -- maybe I missed them?

Only this from the 28th October:

Schlenk just confirmed today was the first time Bogdanovic has played 1-on-1 and the Hawks are looking to "integrate" Bogdanovic into practice when they get back from the road trip. (Note: Travis has a mixed track record with injury updates)

 

Bogi on the broadcast with Bob last game, said he has had no setbacks, no pain in the knee, just weak so working on strengthening it.

[FL_BRYANT]

Hope the Hawks don’t let Randall and the boys bully them tonight. 

[JayBirdHawk]

 

 

[Cwell]

3 hours ago, JayBirdHawk said:

Rebounds, Freethrows, Turnovers!!!!

Score more points than the other team!!!

[JayBirdHawk]

Time to play :

Which scrub will 'outplay' the Hawks?

Contestants...Reddish, Quickley or Toppins