{"id":717062,"date":"2026-04-24T10:51:17","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T10:51:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/717062\/"},"modified":"2026-04-24T10:51:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T10:51:17","slug":"overall-the-knicks-have-a-better-team-carmelo-anthony-believes-new-york-will-ultimately-win-the-series-against-atlanta","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/717062\/","title":{"rendered":"“Overall, the Knicks have a better team” – Carmelo Anthony believes New York will ultimately win the series against Atlanta"},"content":{"rendered":"

The\u00a0New York Knicks<\/a>\u00a0had history on their side. Since the introduction of the shot clock in 1954-55, they were 40-1 in playoff games when leading by 12 or more points after three quarters. That’s what made their 107-106 Game 2 collapse against the Atlanta Hawks<\/a> so shocking – it wasn’t just a loss, it was a rare breakdown from decades of precedent.<\/p>\n

Despite the setback,\u00a0Carmelo Anthony<\/a>\u00a0remained confident. Speaking on his podcast, the former 10-time All-Star emphasized that the Knicks’ roster is built to win now, contrasting them with a younger Hawks team that, he feels, is still reaching its peak potential. Thus, in such high-stakes playoff scenarios, it’s usually the team with more star power that progresses further.<\/p>\n

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“They got championship aspirations for one. They’ve been built to make a championship run. So that comes with a different mindset, different mentality whereas Atlanta is starting to bubble. Knicks got a whole another path, Atlanta got a whole different path. When you put those things together, it learns towards the Knicks,”\u00a0the retired bucket-getter\u00a0said<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Melo’s confidence falls flat on its face<\/p>\n

More notably, Carmelo pointed out the Knicks’ depth of proven contributors, suggesting that they have the tools to overwhelm Atlanta over the course of the series.<\/p>\n

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“You talking about one of the best closers – Jalen Brunson. You talking about KAT, he’s probably the greatest big man in shooting in the NBA, right? You talkin’ about defenders – OG, Mitchell, Josh Hart,” Melo added.\u00a0“You got a bench now. Overall, the Knicks have a better team than Atlanta.”<\/p>\n

However, Game 3 complicated, or rather, made Melo’s belief in his Knicks fall flat. The Hawks controlled most of the contest, building an 18-point first-half lead and dictating the tempo early.<\/p>\n

To New York’s credit, they did respond late, as Jalen Brunson<\/a> did hand them the lead with just over a minute remaining in the contest, 108-105. But the Hawks showed their confidence, as veteran CJ McCollum<\/a> confidently knocked down a mid-range jumper to hand the Hawks a 109-108 lead with just over 12 seconds remaining.<\/p>\n

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Though the Knicks had the opportunity to win the game, a puzzling possession that ended with Brunson throwing a careless pass, saw Atlanta secure a win at home and ultimately go up 2-1 in this series.<\/p>\n

Related: “He couldn’t hit sand if it fell off a camel” – Jason Williams boldly claims that Magic and Bird would struggle in today’s NBA<\/a><\/p>\n

The Hawks are challenging the more experienced Knicks<\/p>\n

In Game 3, as Melo rightly pointed out, the Knicks’ stars delivered individually. Karl-Anthony Towns<\/a> scored 21 points and grabbed 17 rebounds, while OG Anunoby<\/a> showed his two-way brilliance by registering 29 points and three blocks, and Brunson scored 26 points. But the Hawks matched that production collectively, with three players scoring over 20 points and the team shooting close to 40 percent from deep.<\/p>\n

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At this point, it’s not about production; rather, it seems it’s all about late-game execution. The Knicks may have more accomplished, well-known stars on their roster, but they’ve allowed two game-winning chances to slip away in consecutive games. Meanwhile, the Hawks have shown sharper composure when it matters most.<\/p>\n

On top of that, with Game 4 also in Atlanta, the Knicks would not want to find themselves with their backs against the wall by dropping that contest as well. Thus, it’s time for them to throw the kitchen sink before it gets too late in this first-round series.<\/p>\n

Related: \u201cIt\u2019s my fault\u201d \u2013 Shaquille O\u2019Neal claims he changed how NBA centers play forever<\/a><\/p>\n

This story was originally published by Basketball Network<\/a> on Apr 24, 2026, where it first appeared in the Latest News<\/a> section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The\u00a0New York Knicks\u00a0had history on their side. Since the introduction of the shot clock in 1954-55, they were…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":717063,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3776],"tags":[676,208,3874,7,3628,7046,677,288,563,6,191,741],"class_list":["post-717062","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-atlanta-hawks","tag-atlanta","tag-atlanta-hawks","tag-atlantahawks","tag-basketball","tag-carmelo-anthony","tag-cj-mccollum","tag-hawks","tag-jalen-brunson","tag-karl-anthony-towns","tag-nba","tag-new-york-knicks","tag-og-anunoby"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116459305903949072","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/717062","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=717062"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/717062\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/717063"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=717062"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=717062"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=717062"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}