05-30-21 At the Game: Knicks at Hawks - Playoffs, 1st Round - Game 4

We arrived at State Farm Arena at the crack of noon amidst a sea of red and black mixed with orange and blue. Knicks fans were making their presence known in the A, already rowdy and raucous despite the 1pm start. “Let’s go Knicks!” chants could be heard breaking out across downtown Atlanta.

But make no mistake about it: This was a Hawks home game. As the Knicks starting lineup was introduced, the arena was engulfed in deafening boos.

This was our first taste of live playoff basketball, so we went in pure. No action. No skin in the game.

Just p l a y o f f b a s k e t b a l l , baby!

Capela won the tip and we were off.

First possession of the game? A patented Trae Young floater but of course. The Hawks drew first blood, and then Randle missed a step-back 3, De’Andre Hunter right in his grill.

Julius Randle dominated the Hawks in the regular season, scoring 28, 44 and 40 points. But the Hawks didn’t have Hunter for any of those games. Randle in this series has not been able to get going, scoring 15 points twice and just 14 on Friday night, inefficient outings of 6-for-23 shooting, 5-for-16 and 2-for-15.

Today was more of the same. Randle iso ball, forcing up tough jumpers that weren’t falling. The bigger problem is that this is the vast majority of the Knicks offense, stuck in first gear not going anywhere. D-Rose and R.J. Barrett will do a little creating, but the Knicks really have to grind out every posssesion.

On the other side, Trae Young was knifing through the Knicks defense and setting up Capela for easy buckets right at the rim. We kept thinking about how the Hawks offense is so much more complex and sophisticated, if only because Trae has a lot of spot-up weapons who can also take you off the dribble. More ways to get open shots.

That’s when the Hawks 3-balls started landing.

“FOR THREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE” *piercing Hawks noise*

It was Solomon Hill — yes, SOLOMON HILL — who made one at the end of the first quarter, but it was Bogdanovic, Gallinari and Huerter who really got it started while Trae Young was on the bench at the beginning of the 2nd quarter, making back-to-back-to-back triples. Trae checked back in and hit one of his own. To close out the first half, John Collins hit a 3, threw down a power dunk and then Bogey hit another 3. The crowd was gaining momentum, each celebration louder than the last.

Somehow the Knicks only trailed by 4 points at halftime, 53 to 49. It felt like the Hawks should be up 15.

Pretty soon, they were.

Trae Young kicked the 2nd half off by making a quick pull-up 3, sending Hawks fans right back into a tizzy.

The Hawks kept firing away three-pointers, and they kept on landing them. It was everybody, too. Trae hit another, then John Collins in the corner, then Bogey twice more. A landslide of 3’s. State Farm Arena was rocking, each 3 crescendoing into the next roar.

“FOR THREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE” *piercing Hawks noise*

Atlanta led by 16 after the third quarter, and it was pretty much a wrap.

The Red Velvet hit a couple more 3’s in the 4th. The lead ballooned to 26. This one was ova.

Things did get a little bit chippy late. Randle had a hard foul on Gallo, a shove that was assessed a flagrant 1. That’s when the “OVERRATED” chants broke out in full force as they had every time that Randle went to the free throw line. He’s getting off pretty easy compared to Trae at MSG, but you know it still has to sting.

And the last chants at the end of the game as the final buzzer sounded:

“Hawks in 5! Hawks in 5!”

Hawks 113, Knicks 96.

Three-pointers: Hawks 15-of-39. Knicks 9-of-29.

We know the Knicks won’t go out without a fight. MSG on Wednesday night will be as crazy as ever.

A final note: Very glad we stayed away from the Over/Under at 209 cause it was a fucking push.

We love this game!