Knicks-Hawks: Will Mike Brown make a lineup change in Game 4?

The Knicks are in a 2-1 series hole after the Hawks won Game 3, 109-108, on Thursday night. A look at some of the talking points ahead of Game 4 on Saturday night. 

1. Lineup changes?

Mike Brown indicated that no matter what you saw him resort to Thursday night he wasn’t thinking, at least not yet, of making a change to the starting lineup. Mikal Bridges played just 20 minutes and 32 seconds and that might have been too many as he struggled through a scoreless performance. He missed all three of his attempts, turned the ball over four times and was a minus-26. Deuce McBride took the bulk of his minutes and finished with 15 points in 31 minutes.

“I mean, I’m not even thinking about that right now,” Brown said. “But in the same breath, I’ve said it before, like you said, we have to look at everything, but I’m thinking still about the game and what we could’ve done better and all that other stuff before we get into that.”

2. Brunson needs to step up

Remember Jalen Brunson, the NBA’s Clutch Player of the Year last season, the one who has seen just about every defensive scheme and found a way to solve it? Well, he had 26 points Thursday night in Game 3 but this still wasn’t the Brunson that the Knicks are accustomed to. He had three turnovers, shot 11-for-23 — 0-for-5 from beyond the arc — and every shot he got seemed like a chore. And we haven’t even gotten to his defense, where the Hawks continued to hunt him. The Knicks need Brunson to be the All-NBA veteran he’s been, which opens up things for everyone else.

3. The bench problem

It’s hard to criticize the Knicks' bench too much since the team needed them to get back in the game and McBride and Jordan Clarkson were spark plugs. But the Knicks were beaten on the margins last year and revamped their bench and, well, they’re seeing the same thing again. Jonathan Kuminga had 21 points (9-for-14 shooting), had a pair of big offensive rebounds and led a lot of the celebrations for Atlanta. The Knicks should be able to win the bench minutes and it just seems as if they can’t live without Karl-Anthony Towns or Brunson off the floor.

By Steve Popper

steve.popper@newsday.com@StevePopper

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.