The New York Knicks are back in the playoffs after almost a decade of postseason absence. They begin their playoff grind on Sunday against the Atlanta Hawks, who are still searching for their first win against the Knicks this season. Check out our preview of this game below.
The Hawks gave themselves a nice sendoff to the playoffs by going 4-0 straight up to close out the regular season. If you step back to check out their last eight games, you’d see that they went 7-1 during that stretch, including wins against the likes of the Portland Trail Blazers and the Phoenix Suns. With Trae Young driving the offense, the Hawks went from bottom last season in offense to top 10, as Atlanta finished the regular season. In three games against the Knicks prior to the playoffs, Young averaged 24.7 points and 12.0 assists. He’s easily the main target of the Knicks’ defense, but the Hawks have other players who can lighten the load on the former Oklahoma Sooners star. Take for example the likes of Bogdan Bogdanovic, Jason Collins, and Clint Capela. The frontcourt of Collins and Capela are highly efficient individuals on offense. In a seven-game series, the Knicks could be fatigued in trying to contain those two.
The under is 3-0 in the Hawks’ last three games overall.
The Knicks have come a long way. Most people counted them out prior to the season, but here they are with homecourt advantage in the first round of the playoffs. They showed their readiness for the postseason by winning all three of their last four games, including in the regular-season finale against the Boston Celtics (96-92) at home on May 16. Julius Randle and the Knicks’ defense have been New York’s finest weapons this season. Randle is the favorite to win the Most Improved Player of the year after finishing the regular season with averages of 24.1 points, 10.2 rebounds, and 6.0 assists per game while shooting 41.1 percent from behind the arc. As for their defense, the Knicks ranked first with just 104.7 points allowed per contest and fourth with 108.3 points surrendered per 100 possessions. That same defense limited Young to only 36.2 percent shooting from the floor in the three wins the Knicks have over Atlanta in the regular season.
The Knicks are 7-3 against the spread in their last 10 home games.
