Knicks-Hawks series: What Karl-Anthony Towns & Co. need to do to keep it going in Game 5
Knicks' Karl-Anthony Towns walks off the court after a win over the Hawks in Game 4 of an Eastern Conference first-round matchup on Saturday in Atlanta. Credit: Getty Images/Kevin C. Cox
ATLANTA — The Knicks reclaimed home-court advantage — and maybe the psychological advantage, too — with a 114-98 win over the Hawks Saturday night, a start-to-finish domination. But keeping that desperation is what they know they’ll need moving forward as the series shifts back to the Garden. A look at some of the talking points ahead of Game 5 Tuesday night.
1. Head games
The Knicks spoke in recent days about having their backs to the wall and playing for their lives and it showed Saturday as they took the game over in the first quarter and steadily expanded their lead throughout the game. They led by as many as 24 points and held Atlanta to just 98 points. Now, the focus is on how they can keep that mentality for the rest of the series.
“I think it just reinforces the kind of guys that we have in this locker room," Josh Hart said. "We’ve put ourselves in this position. I know the character we have we were ready to answer back today and like I said, be ready to build off of it for Game 5.”
2. Magic Towns
Maybe it doesn’t have the same ring around Atlanta as Magic City, famous for lemon pepper wings and more, but Karl-Anthony Towns —who has spoken about his desire to build his game in the image of Magic Johnson — took over as the hub of the Knicks' offense in Game 4. With the Hawks working to slow Jalen Brunson, the Knicks put the ball in Towns' hands and he had 10 assists to go along with 20 points and 10 rebounds, his first career postseason triple-double. His size and skill have been an advantage on paper against the Hawks and the Knicks seemed finally content to let him take control of it. The Knicks should keep doing it, too, until the Hawks come up with a counter. And when they do, that will open up things for Brunson and others.
“To be able to have this moment is great, but it’s more important to be able to have this moment with this team, my teammates and brothers in this locker room,” Towns said. “It means a lot. And like Magic, I just always talk about impacting winning, and to be able to amplify my teammates is one of the biggest honors I got.”
3. The minutes police
No, not the ones that count how many minutes former Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau used to utilize his starters for, but the ones who were counting how few minutes Mikal Bridges played. While current Knicks coach Mike Brown didn’t make a lineup change, he gave Bridges a quick hook in the second half, playing him less than four minutes and then turning to Deuce McBride and Jordan Clarkson — both of who logged more minutes than Bridges. Brown just said whoever has it going is what they’ll use now.
Steve Popper covers the Knicks for Newsday. He has spent nearly three decades covering the Knicks and the NBA, along with just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
