Game Day: Knicks @ Hawks, Game 3, 5/28/21

The Knicks travel to Atlanta after a rousing Game 2 victory at home tied the series at 1-1. Can the Knicks snag a game on the road and reclaim home court?

It’s kind of weird having a game after just two days again!

Like in a way my heart’s still pounding from that game the other night. After having six days post-regular season and three days post-Game 1, this feels like an immediate turnaround.

But here we are, on the precipice of the third game of this series. It almost goes without saying, but the Knicks of the second half on Wednesday really need to show up to this game, rather than the Knicks of the first half. Hopefully Tom Thibodeau makes the right call and rolls with the Derrick Rose, RJ Barrett, Reggie Bullock, Julius Randle, Taj Gibson starting lineup in this game and captures the lightning of last game in a bottle.

I don’t have too much to say before this game that wasn’t already said by some of the lovely fellas here at The Strickland earlier — Derek Reifer broke down how Julius Randle got his shit together in Game 2, while Benjy Ritholtz examined how Obi Toppin’s style of play seems to have rubbed off on Randle.

I’ll do the same now like I did for Game 2 and just give a few quick thoughts for Game 3:

1. This has to be the game that Elfrid Payton gets benched, as mentioned above. Same with Nerlens Noel, which isn’t an overall knock on him so much as an acknowledgement that he has a much harder time with Clint Capela than Taj does. On top of that, I think Noel’s particular brand of interior defense isn’t the best fit for facing the Hawks — whereas Taj likes to just keep guys away from the rim at all costs, Noel likes to bait them in and then stuff their shot. Thing is, Trae and the Hawks are looking more for foul calls than to actually finish baskets, so that style isn’t ideal to me.

2. Julius needs to carry that momentum over from Game 2. Credit the Hawks for throwing a look at Randle that he hasn’t really seen this year, and thus flummoxing him to start the series — Julius typically gets either single or double coverage, period, yet the Hawks have been utilizing sort of a soft double team where the second man (Capela, often) just kinda shades over and gives the impression of a double, making Julius contemplate his decisions more and ultimately ending in some ugly turnovers before he found his groove. Something tells me Julius will be fine the rest of the way.

3. Not so much a game note as me being curious just how Atlanta’s crowd will compare to Madison Square Garden. I wouldn’t expect anything near what MSG had going as far as noise and intensity, but mostly I’m interested in how many Knicks fans will make the trip and be in the building. Will Trae hear “Fuck Trae Young” chants in his own building?

Game’s at 7:00 on ESPN and MSG, so you already know where to go. Come hang with us on Twitter!