Atlanta Hawks: Clint Capela backed up his talk
The Atlanta Hawks big man in the middle, Clint Capela drew the attention of the referees to the extra physicality being used by the New York Knicks in their playoff series. However, what is well known is that when you talk you have to back it up with the walk.
In the fifth game of the series, Capela had 14 points, 15 rebounds, two blocks, and a steal. He altered so many shots during the game with his incredible defense and had a plus 18 impact on the box score.
So yes, Capela certainly walked the walk with his head held high. One of the things about having your big man doing the trash talk is that it is difficult to be physically imposing on him. Capela simply played the way that he normally does and intimidated the Knicks inside the paint.
Did Clint Capela do the right thing with his trash talk?
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The main reason that Capela talked trash was clearly to draw the referee’s attention to the type of play the Knicks were bringing to the court. Julius Randle has hit multiple Hawks players in the face with his elbows. The Hawks, clearly the better team, wanted their players not to miss time through injury as a result of this type of play.
John Collins has four stitches in his lip thanks to Randle’s elbow, Bogdan Bogdanovic was lucky not to have a serious injury after Randle elbowed him in the face in a non-basketball play. In the fifth game, Onyeka Okongwu was on the receiving end of another Randle elbow.
De’Andre Hunter was bumped in mid-air by Taj Gibson in a play that could have injured the young small forward, resulting in a flagrant foul, penalty one. Then at the end of the first half, Randle threw the ball at Young who was on the ground, giving away the technical.
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Did he do the right thing making the comments that he did? Absolutely, Capela made the right call because he was able to back up the talk with another tremendous game. The Hawks got out of Madison Square Gardens with the win and no player got hurt. It was a good call by the big man. He was right too, the Hawks sent the Knicks on vacation