The Atlanta Hawks may have lost Game 4, but Nickeil Alexander-Walker provided a sincere reason to believe they can complete the upset of the New York Knicks. Alexander-Walker bounced back from a tough start to the series by shooting efficiently and continuing to defend at a high level.
The key to Alexander-Walker's improvement in Game 4: Leaning into his strengths as a three-point shooter to mask his flaws. The Hawks can learn from that approach overall.
Alexander-Walker averaged 13.3 points per contest through the first three games of the series, but he did so while shooting just 31.7 percent from the field. The driving force behind his inefficiency was the fact that he shot an abhorrent 23.8 percent on two-point field goals.
The overlooked truth about the first three games, however, was that Alexander-Walker was also shooting 40.0 percent on 6.7 three-point field goal attempts per game.
In Game 4, Alexander-Walker effectively disregarded what wasn't working and focused all but entirely on what was. He attempted just one two-point field goal all game and finished with 15 points on 5-of-11 shooting from the field and a 5-of-10 mark from beyond the arc.
If the Hawks are hoping to take the Knicks down, then they must follow suit by masking their flaws by emphasizing their individual and collective strengths.
Nickeil Alexander-Walker is all-in on shooting 3s—and thriving
For all of the talk about Alexander-Walker's inefficiency, not enough has been said about how he's saved the Hawks from disaster. He's shooting 43.3 percent from beyond the arc in a series during which Atlanta is converting just 32.6 percent of its attempts as a team.
For as alarming as that may be, Alexander-Walker is a proven sharpshooter who can continue to offer ideal spacing if his teammates make the most of said opportunities.
Riding Alexander-Walker's three-point marksmanship, the Hawks need Jalen Johnson, Jonathan Kuminga, and CJ McCollum to anchor the midrange and interior efforts. All three have experienced ranging degrees of success in this series, with their scoring proving essential to team success.
McCollum, for instance, is shooting an absurd 61.2 percent on two-point field goals during the series and Kuminga is at an even crazier 70.4 percent.
It's clearly imperative that the Hawks become more efficient as a team, but if they can't, then they'll need to rely on what's working. That's typically been attacking the basket and either pulling up from midrange or finishing at the rim.
If the Hawks manage to lean into their strengths in the same way Alexander-Walker has, then defeating the Knicks is a realistic endeavor.
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