The Atlanta Hawks won the first game against the New York Knicks on a last-second game-winner by Trae Young. His self-belief and self-confidence shone through in that final right-handed runner which gave the Hawks home-court advantage.
This play was crucial for the chances for the Hawks in this series. In the last portion of the regular season, the Hawks lost their last five games away from home. They won their last 11 games at home which was the best streak in the NBA for a team on their own floor.
Thanks to the Knicks winning all three games in the regular-season series, the Hawks were the lower seed in this matchup. This meant that if they followed their recent form, they would most probably have been knocked out in seven games.
The Atlanta Hawks are now in the driver’s seat.
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Thanks to the Hawks taking the game, they are now in the box seat to take the series. The Knicks had no way of stopping Young in the first game, and if they are going to slow down the Hawks they are going to have to figure this out.
The other problem for the Knicks is that there were a number of Hawks players who were not at their best. Danilo Gallinari struggled with his shot for the whole game. He only scored seven points on 1-of-7 shooting from deep. It is very rare for Gallinari to have two bad games.
John Collins needs to involve himself more, and Lou Williams only played 13 minutes. There is so much potential for improvement in the Hawks game. The Knicks have several areas that they can also improve as well.
They did not utilize Young’s lack of defense until near the end of the game. RJ Barrett backed Young down from the perimeter, getting him near the paint before making an easy bucket over the Hawks’ point guard.
The adjustments the Knicks need to make are that much greater than the Hawks. Now that they don’t hold home-court advantage anymore, the Knicks need to make these adjustments so much quicker than the Hawks. Their playoff future depends on it.