{"id":712188,"date":"2026-04-17T04:10:49","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T04:10:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/712188\/"},"modified":"2026-04-17T04:10:49","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T04:10:49","slug":"tony-bradley-believes-hawks-need-to-hit-knicks-in-the-mouth-first","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/712188\/","title":{"rendered":"Tony Bradley believes Hawks need to hit Knicks ‘in the mouth first’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tony Bradley hadn\u2019t played much for the Pacers in the postseason at that point last year, and he wouldn\u2019t play in the Eastern Conference finals until the second game, but he still watched as Tyrese Haliburton\u2019s last-second heave stunned the Knicks<\/a> by forcing overtime in Game 1.<\/p>\n

And Bradley saw how that draining result \u2014 the Knicks\u2019 double-digit lead late in regulation evaporated completely \u2014 carried over into the next game that Indiana won, too. <\/p>\n

That\u2019s why Bradley, now a backup center for the Hawks facing the possibility of an expanded role this series, knows the importance of stealing that first game to \u201cset the tone,\u201d which Atlanta will have the chance to do at the Garden when the first-round series opens Saturday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s very important to hit them in the mouth first,\u201d Bradley told reporters in Atlanta on Thursday, while adding that the Knicks were \u201cfor sure\u201d demoralized by Haliburton\u2019s shot.<\/p>\n

\"MichaelMichael Bradley (left) defends Mitchell Robinson during the Knicks\u2019 win over the Hawks on April 6, 2026 in Atlanta. Dale Zanine-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Bradley, a first-round pick by the Lakers in 2017, was waived by the Pacers in January before his contract became guaranteed, and after a pair of 10-day deals with Indiana that followed, he remained unsigned until the Hawks picked him up earlier this month after an injury to backup center Jock Landale.<\/p>\n

With Landale now sidelined for at least the start of the series \u2014 the Hawks said Thursday that he\u2019ll be re-evaluated in 1-2 weeks \u2014 with a right ankle sprain, it\u2019s unclear just how sizable of a role Bradley could have against the Knicks. <\/p>\n

In three regular-season games with Atlanta, Bradley averaged 11.3 minutes, 3.7 points and three rebounds per game. <\/p>\n

For the season, he\u2019s averaging 4.0 points and 2.8 rebounds across 10.9 minutes per game.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

But Bradley has experienced what it takes to topple the Knicks. And he knows the impact that a devastating blow at the Garden, especially at the start of a series, can have.<\/p>\n

\u201cTheir crowd is, it can be intimidating,\u201d Bradley said. \u201cBut it\u2019s fun at the same time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Josh Hart didn\u2019t hesitate. Asked what the Knicks can take from their three regular-season matchups with the Hawks, he said, \u201cNone.\u201d They didn\u2019t have Karl-Anthony Towns for one of the games. Hart didn\u2019t play in two of them, either.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWhat\u2019s happening on and off the Garden court\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for Inside the Knicks by Stefan Bondy, a weekly exclusive on Sports+.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\tThank you\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\u201cThe regular season honestly doesn\u2019t really matter when you look at it in terms of a scope like this,\u201d Hart said, \u201cbecause you never know \u2014 regular season, there\u2019s a lot of things that you have. I don\u2019t know if they were back-to-backs, you know, who\u2019s in, who\u2019s out, whatever it is.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, you know, you throw those out the window and you just focus on the team and the personnel that they have right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Knicks head coach Mike Brown, tasked with navigating against the Hawks\u2019 Quin Snyder \u2014 who was on Brown\u2019s staff with the Lakers in 2011-12 \u2014 over the next two weeks in a coaching chess match, opted to not look too far ahead with how he\u2019ll approach the challenge.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust one day at a time,\u201d Brown said. \u201cMore than anything else, it\u2019s my job to make sure we as a group, starting with me, stay present, and, you know, you go through the hypotheticals, but you can\u2019t dwell on them because if you do, you\u2019ll lose focus at what your strengths are.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tony Bradley hadn\u2019t played much for the Pacers in the postseason at that point last year, and he…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":712189,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3768],"tags":[208,7,304,6,11,56381,1136,191,3810,3806,66],"class_list":{"0":"post-712188","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-knicks","8":"tag-atlanta-hawks","9":"tag-basketball","10":"tag-knicks","11":"tag-nba","12":"tag-nba-playoffs","13":"tag-nba-playoffs-2026","14":"tag-new-york","15":"tag-new-york-knicks","16":"tag-newyork","17":"tag-newyorkknicks","18":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116418094785429880","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/712188","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=712188"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/712188\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/712189"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=712188"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=712188"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=712188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}