The NY Knicks will begin their first playoff journey in eight years when they tip off against the Atlanta Hawks Sunday night at Madison Square Garden.
The series is set to be one of the most tightly contested first round matchups. There are a lot of parallels between the two teams.
Both NY and ATL have surpassed their preseason expectations. Their rosters don’t have a lot of playoff experience, and they’ve both been among the hottest teams in the NBA down the stretch of the regular season.
The majority of the analysis surrounding this series, whether it be from bloggers, scouts, or reporters, has revolved around the star players. How are the Atlanta Hawks going to contain Julius Randle? How are the Knicks going to slow down Trae Young?
We’ve seen Clint Capela and Nate McMillan field plenty of questions about their game plan for Randle, who has torched the Hawks this season.
We’ve seen Tom Thibodeau have to answer questions about his team’s point guard situation and defending Trae Young.
The headline of this series is the NY Knicks’ stout defense versus the Atlanta Hawks’ wide array of scorers. We’re leaving out some important details.
The NY Knicks’ underrated offense
The Knicks may not have the flashiest offense in the NBA, but they a productive one. Since April 1st (the last 24 games) the Knicks have the 13th best offensive rating in the league. In that same span, they have the 10th best true shooting percentage and the highest 3-point field goal percentage of any team in the league.
So while a lot of Atlanta’s focus will be on Julius Randle, who is often the focal point of the NY’s offense, there are a LOT of questions about how they’re going to defend the Knicks’ secondary scorers, and NY has a lot of them.
NY Knicks: Who on the Atlanta Hawks matches up well with RJ Barrett?
No one… well, the Hawks’ sole effective perimeter defender, De’Andre Hunter, has the physical tools to match RJ Barrett.
The only thing is that there has been a lot of talk around the Hawks putting Hunter on Julius Randle.
Randle has scorched the Hawks, but a lot of it has been with John Collins as his primary defender.
De’Andre Hunter has missed a lot of time this season due to injury and has only recently returned to the Hawks lineup.
If you’re playing Hunter on Randle, what are you doing with John Collins? Is he the one who has to track Bullock or Barrett on the perimeter? Since April 1st, RJ Barrett has shot 47.1% from 3.
While Bogdan Bogdanović has the length to match Barrett, he does not have the same level of strength.
The NY Knicks are going to need a big series from their 20-year-old slasher. Randle is going to be getting plenty of double teams, as he has all season, and Barrett has to more than a 3-point shooting sniper.
If RJ Barrett can get into attack mode, he’ll quickly realize that there aren’t a lot of Hawks defenders who can keep up with him. He’s not the only Knick that is going to attack the rim.
NY Knicks: Derrick Rose can have a monster series
There is a possibility that the Atlanta Hawks hide Trae Young on defense. They could decide to place him on Reggie Bullock, who is really just used as a spot-up shooter. He struggles to keep up with point guards.
It may be a wise decision, as Young is going to have a difficult time anytime he gets matched up with Derrick Rose.
Trae Young ranks 168th/179 eligible players in defensive box +/- this season.
If anyone can get into attack mode on the NY Knicks, it’s Derrick Rose. The 32-year-old has been playing a high level of efficient basketball – as a shooter, facilitator, and a 1-man wrecking ball getting to the rim.
Rose is going to come off the bench as he has all season but will play just over 30 minutes per game. The Atlanta Hawks are once again going to have to figure out how they’re going to match up with their starters of Young-Bogdanović-Hunter-Collins-Capela.
Not only that but they’re going to need to find a way to slow down Rose for when he first enters the game late in the first quarter. Rose has torched opposing 2nd units.
Lou Williams? Huerter? Is Kris Dunn a thing?
There’s just no way I can see Atlanta being able to slow down Rose and hold him to under 20 points per game. This is a matchup he can absolutely exploit. Rose scored 20 points in their last meeting and finished the game with a net rating of +14.
It doesn’t stop there. New York has another dynamic scorer that Atlanta is going to have to deal with.
NY Knicks: Alec Burks can light it up
Probably the most unheralded and least appreciated of all the NY Knicks’ scorers, Alec Burks is flying under the radar going into this series.
Burks has had a big season for New York, averaging just under 13 points per game while shooting 41.5% from 3. Yet another sniper.
Burks has looked terrific since returning to the Knicks lineup at the end of the regular season. He’s put up 30, 14, and 17 points in their last 3 games.
Similarly to Rose, I’m struggling to figure out what the Hawks do on defense with yet another effective ball-handling scorer.
With both Rose and Burks, the NY Knicks have two guys who can create instant offense. Julius Randle isn’t the only shot-maker on this team.
The more you go through the wide variety of scorers on the NY Knicks’ roster, the more you wonder why they aren’t talked about as much as the Hawks scoring options.
With a Tom Thibodeau team that’s been near the top of the league in defense, I guess it’s only natural that end of breaking down how good that side of the ball has been.
The Hawks have some potent firepower in their starting lineup. With Gallinari, Lou Williams, and Kevin Huerter, they have scoring reinforcements off of the bench.
So do the Knicks.
Rose, Burks, and Immanuel Quickley are all terrific ball-handlers and scorers. Maybe Burks doesn’t get as much love cause he’s been a journeyman in his career.
Is Atlanta’s depth that much “deeper” because they have a “more skilled” 9th and 10th man off the bench? I don’t believe it’s that much of a real difference, especially in the playoffs where we’ll see tighter rotations.
So how about the basketball world starts giving some love to the Knicks’ depth as they do for the Hawks?
All eyes may be on Julius Randle and Trae Young, but it could be the big performances from the Knicks’ secondary scorers that decide the series.