Game Day: Knicks @ Hawks, Game 4, 5/30/21

This game isn’t necessarily a must-win, but staring a potential 3-1 deficit in the face needs to awaken a sense of urgency in the Knicks. What adjustments do they need to make to tie things up headed back to New York?

Only around 36 hours after one of their worst performances of the season, the Knicks need to turn things around and get the series back to 2-2 before returning to New York.

Despite being outscored 162-138 in six of their last eight quarters (excluding the second half of Game 2), there have been some potentially exploitable things at play for the Knicks. On top of the obvious “make more shots,” here are a few things that could help swing this game, and potentially the series:

1. If Julius Randle is going to get out of this funk he’s in, he has to start attacking and abusing mismatches. You get Danilo Gallinari or John Collins on you 1-on-1 on the perimeter? Break him down immediately! Don’t give Clint Capela enough time to get where he wants to get to deter you away from the rim. With Elfrid Payton and Nerlens Noel out of the starting lineup, it really shouldn’t be this hard to find space as it was before. It’s almost like this “soft double” adjustment by the Hawks has made Julius forget that he torched a lot of these same defenders in the three regular season games while he was averaging almost 40 points per game against Atlanta.

2. Don’t let Trae Young hide out on Reggie Bullock on defense. Reggie is a capable shooter in a variety of situations… he doesn’t have to just hang out in the corner! When Bullock isn’t moved around at all, it makes Young’s job so much easier on the defensive end. You’re essentially then allowing Trae to recharge his batteries on the side of the ball where he sucks, leaving him to run amok on the offensive end. For whatever reason, the Knicks’ idea so far of getting Bullock more involved has been having him create with the ball in his hands, which is just a disaster. You may as well give Nerlens Noel the ball on the perimeter, he and Bullock have about the same acumen with the ball in their hands. How about instead of that, you have Reggie set some screens for Randle on the perimeter in a 4/2 pick-and-roll? Then you’re switching Young onto Randle, which will either result in Julius getting an open pull-up three (if Trae goes under the screen) or Julius getting to post up the smallest, weakest player on the opposing team, perhaps drawing a hard double team rather than the soft doubles that have flummoxed him so far this series. Just one example, but basically Bullock should be spending all of his time on offense running Trae around and trying to shake him, one way or another.

3. Utilize early-game sets for RJ Barrett. I know it’s got to be appealing for Thibs, with Derrick Rose finally in the starting lineup, to just rely on Rose as his featured guard of old. But Julius isn’t the only one struggling right now — RJ has been having a really rough time this whole series as well. It’s actually impressive in its own way (and a huge testament to what Rose has been doing) that the first two games were as close as they were (and that the Knicks only lost the third by 11) with the Knicks’ two best players struggling like they have been. A staple during the season was always getting RJ and Randle going early, or at least attempting to. So often, RJ would start the game with simple actions like pistol to get him going, with the added benefit that he could get the Knicks’ center going with a nice pass out of the PnR if his own shot wasn’t there. Why not draw some stuff up for RJ to put the ball in his hands and give him some structure? These first three games, it seems like his role is basically just a spot-up shooter, and thus when he gets the ball in his hands he’s been freelancing and making some iffy decisions. Try to make the game easier on your youngest player, not harder.

4. Bonus: Play Frank Ntilikina more than 10 seconds. There’s literally video evidence of how good this guy can be in 1-on-1 situations against guys like Trae or Luka Doncic. They all fear him on that end, yet he can’t get any run? C’mon.

It’s an early one today! Game’s at 1 p.m., and, regrettably, only on ABC, so no Clyde on MSG today. Come join us on Twitter during the game!