The Atlanta Hawks do not take the New York Knicks seriously. At the very least, they consider them a less-serious threat than the Cleveland Cavaliers. This much became clear on the final day of the regular season.
Nobody on the Hawks came out and flatly said, “We want the Knicks, because the Cavs are better,” or anything along those lines. Atlanta did all of the talking with its approach to the last game on its schedule.
Going up against the Miami Heat, a victory would have given the Hawks 47 wins on the year, and sole possession of fifth place. That, in turn, would have set up a four-versus-five matchup with the Cavs.
Instead, Atlanta effectively threw its game against Miami. That set the stage for a Knicks-versus-Hawks sparring. And yes, New York should absolutely take this to heart.
The Hawks clearly want to face the Knicks
Other variables were at play heading into the final day of the regular season. Most notably, had the Orlando Magic beaten the Boston Celtics’ skeleton crew, Atlanta would be facing Cleveland rather than New York.
Yet, anyone who has paid even cursory attention to the Magic understands they cannot be counted on for…anything. Getting daddied by Baylor Scheierman and Ron Harper Jr. in Boston is basically a microcosm for Orlando’s entire season.
The Hawks have plenty of people within the organization who know the lows this year’s Magic are capable of exploring. They went ahead and rested everyone who matters against the Heat anyway—a clear demonstration of intent.
Assigning motives without verbal confirmation is at times dangerous. This isn’t one of those times. You don’t get to roll out a starting lineup of Keaton Wallace, Tony Bradley, Zacchaerie Risacher, Corey Kispert, and Asa Newell, and then pretend you care, at all, about picking up a W.
New York should use the first round to send a message
Granted, Atlanta is not alone in its presumptions. Plenty of people believe the Knicks pulled a less-than-ideal matchup to tip off the postseason. They are wondering if New York can handle the Hawks’ heavy switching. Or whether Jalen Brunson stands to be neutralized versus Atlanta’s bevy of strong perimeter pests.
To be sure, impressions of Atlanta say more about the state of the Toronto Raptors than anything. Still, the Hawks’ decision to prefabricate this matchup is worth adding to the Knicks’ locker-room bulletin board.
If nothing else, this is the perfect opportunity for New York to make a first-round statement worth a damn. The Knicks bodied the Hawks during their final regular-season matchup, picking apart the defense with a revelatory number of offensive approaches.
Do the same on this stage, and they won’t just prove Atlanta made an error manufacturing this head-to-head. They’ll prove a lot of other people wrong, too.
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