Hawks 105, Knicks 94: “These are the times that try mens’ souls”
The Knicks laid an absolute egg in Atlanta on Friday night, struggling to contain the Hawks on defense and to produce anything on offense. Can New York get it together before Game 4 on Sunday?
The first minute of Game 3 between the New York Knicks and Atlanta Hawks featured four clock malfunctions, each increasingly annoying. The next 47 were also a crescendo of c’mons! as the Knicks malfunctioned every which way possible, falling 105-94, and now down 2-1 in the series.
It’s squeaky bum time, to borrow a phrase from the second-best manager in Manchester soccer. A number of Knicks look haunted and in need of exorcism. Julius Randle’s dark night of the soul gives no hint of dawn. RJ Barrett ain’t exactly lighting it up either. Derrick Rose replaced Elfrid Payton in the starting lineup and shot brilliantly; the other four starters, including Taj Gibson in place of Nerlens Noel, combined to go 9-38. For Atlanta, all five starters scored in double figures, while for the first time in the series their bench outscored New York’s. Not gonna lie: this was not an encouraging loss.
The end of this game’s happy childhood was the last 1.1 seconds of the first quarter. Reggie Bullock drew a foul on a 3-pointer and hit all three free throws, after which Danilo Gallinari threw the ball out of bounds without it touching anyone. The Knicks inbounded from under their own basket and Randle nailed a sideline 3-pointer to give the Knicks the lead, their only basket of the quarter not scored by Rose or Gibson.
The second quarter was where the game was lost. The lineup of Immanuel Quickley, Obi Toppin, Alec Burks, Bullock and Noel had a hard time just getting shots off, much less making them, and in the first half the Knicks weren’t dominating the glass on both ends like they did in the first two games. Meanwhile, Atlanta ripped off a 22-3 run to take a 14-point lead into the half. Trae Young giveth.
Trae Young giveth lots.
Trae Young is why the Hawks are winning an otherwise remarkably balanced matchup. The Knicks don’t have anything that works against him. The Hawks have a nice little two-pronged game plan turding the Knicks’ punch bowl. First, their entire team is basically keyed on Randle.
(Maybe the Knicks could post him up more? Change the nature of the double teams he’s seeing? Force Atlanta to commit to something more concrete? A corporeal foe is easier to fight than a ghost. Randle isn’t just struggling to score; he’s losing his aggression to look for shots. He goes into moves clearly intent on passing the ball. That’s a sign of thinking. As anyone who’s good at anything in life knows, thinking is often the enemy. You can’t think your way into the zone. You can def think yourself out of it.)
Second, the Hawks are giving up 24 points a game to Rose. I imagine that trade-off — less Randle, more Rose — is by design. Randle is a better passer and made 160 3-pointers at a 41% clip. Rose has only made more than 100 in a season once. The Knicks at their best feature Randle in rhythm behind the arc, in the midrange, and creating for others. If he’s clicking, so are others. He’s a band leader. Rose is more of a soloist. That’s not to say he doesn’t set up teammates. But his playmaking is complementary; Randle’s is primary.
If I’m the Hawks, I’d much rather let Rose pull up from deep or hit all the difficult floaters, runners, and up-and-unders he wants than give Randle any tiny ember of rhythm that might catch fire and torch the defense. Everything the Knicks’ offense does depends on his success: from Barrett’s freedom to explore the space, to Bullock’s long-distance damage, to all those corner threes, to opening gaps behind the arc and clearing large angles of premium midrange for his teammates. That’s what happened as this game slipped out of reach: when Rose had hit seven of his 12 shots, the rest of the Knicks were just 7-33.
Philadelphia. Denver. Brooklyn. Phoenix. Miami. Every team to have beaten the Knicks more than once this season is either a title contender or were runners-up last year. Atlanta is now on the list.. They’re a good team, like the others. The Knicks have until Sunday afternoon to remember they are, too.
Notes
Barrett is averaging 11 points a game on 34% shooting in this series. Don’t feel like I remember them calling many plays for him. The results haven’t been there, but I’m excited for him to get this experience at his age. It will pay off someday. Hopefully sooner and later.
Noel with a career-high 10 free throws on a career-high 12 attempts. He hasn’t had more than half as many attempts since his rookie year. That was weird, man.
Watching the beating Noel took, highlighted by hard shots courtesy of Kevin Huerter and Gallinari , I thought of all he’s done for this team, all the temporary adoration the fans feel toward him, and how he’ll likely play for another team next year, and pro’ly never play here again. Where will that love go? The Giants had a running back in the early 1990’s named Rodney Hampton. He put together a string of 1000-yard seasons for mostly meh teams. Put his body through a pounding to do it. How many ever think of him anymore? How many care?
There was a game in the regular season — maybe the last matchup between these teams — where Huerter tried Noel a couple of times, I think in succession, and Noel swatted him each time. Ever since then, whenever Huerter drives and Noel is in the lane, Huerter gets off at the next exit outta the paint. I thought of how our deepest fears are often reflections of our anxieties toward ourselves as I watched Huerter lay hands on Noel and commit a flagrant foul.
In the time it took you to read that paragraph, John Collins fouled two more Knicks.
Toppin played the first eight minutes of the fourth while Randle sat on the bench. I wasn’t bothered. Obi’s production and energy have been positives in this series, albeit in small doses. Small doesn’t mean they don’t pop.
Gallinari hit all four of his 3-point attempts. He and Lou Williams were big reasons the Hawk bench won its matchup for the first time this series.
The Atlanta crowd chanted “overrated” at Randle. I mean, he scored like 40 a game in three regular-season games his team swept from yours, but go off, I guess.
It seems safe to say Trae Young and Reggie Bullock will not be invited to each other’s birthday parties this year.
I’m in love with the idea of random Knick players being woken up in the middle of the night by John Collins fouling them. Like it’s 5:00 a.m. and Randle’s roused from sleep by Collins in bed next to him, his arm hooked around Randle’s while he appeals the call to the referee standing bedside, in full uniform. Rose gets up to pee in the middle of the night and as he walks into the bathroom Collins bowls into him, knocking him down and whistled for a charge.
The Knicks made nearly as many free throws (27) as field goals (29). It’s after 3:00 a.m., so I’m not looking this up, but I wonder when was the last game — regular season and playoffs — the Knicks finished with more baskets from the line than the field.
Noel had 12 points on just two field goal attempts. Has any Knick ever scored that many points on so few shots? I couldn’t find any. Neat! Math!
Quoth Walt Frazier: “These are the times that try mens’ souls.” This is easily the most soul-searchingist moment of this charmed season. The Knicks need to figure out how to fix their offense and their defense and have until Sunday at 1:00 p.m. to do so. Win Game 4 and it’s a best-of-3 with the home court advantage back in New York. Lose, and the end, as is often true, is suddenly looming before you were ready for it.
