Knicks open the playoffs against the Hawks, knowing 'we’ll be judged by what we do in this run'

Audio By Carbonatix

NEW YORK (AP) — The New York Knicks won 53 games and the NBA Cup title, a clearly successful regular season for a team with a first-year coach.

This regular season was never going to matter much in New York.

Not after the Knicks fired their coach even after he led them to the Eastern Conference finals last year, and not when their owner said during this season they should expect to reach the NBA Finals.

All that matters is what happens starting Saturday.

“I mean, this is the time. We’ve got to go out there and we’ve got to execute and we’ve got to capitalize again on this opportunity,” center Karl-Anthony Towns said. “At the end of the day we’ll be judged by what we do in this run.”

It begins for the No. 3-seeded Knicks against the No. 6 Atlanta Hawks, who used a strong second half of the season to surge to their first Southeast Division title since 2021, when they reached the East finals.

Atlanta finished 46-36, its best record in a decade. It was a big leap for a team with a young core and perhaps a bright future.

The Knicks believe their time is now.

They brought back their entire starting five, including All-Stars Towns and Jalen Brunson, from the team that reached the East finals last year for the first time since 2000. Tom Thibodeau was fired after four playoff appearances in five years and replaced by Mike Brown, whose job was to have the Knicks ready to go a step further.

“Everybody in that locker room has a competitive spirit that I like and that I can say is unmatched,” Brown said. “And I love the group and we’re competing not just for 53 wins. We’re competing, at the end of the day like we feel everybody else is, to win it.”

It was during an interview with WFAN Radio in January — after the Knicks won the Cup but refused to hang a banner because they were eyeing bigger things — that Dolan said he believed the Knicks should win the East, which they haven't done since 1999. He said he didn't think the team needed to make any more big trades because the pieces were already in place.

“This group can win a championship," Dolan said. "I believe that.”

First, the Knicks have to get through Jalen Johnson, Dyson Daniels, Nickeil Alexander-Walker and the rest of the Hawks. Atlanta was 26-30 at the All-Star break, then went 20-6 the rest of the way. Atlanta went into the final day of the regular season with a chance to finish with the No. 5 seed, but rested its starters, dropped a spot and instead is now headed to Madison Square Garden.

Coach Quin Snyder said his team won't be shaken by the atmosphere.

“I think when a crowd is loud, whether it’s Madison Square Garden or pick your arena, obviously we know that that crowd is vocal and they’ve got great fans. I don’t think that will surprise,” Snyder told reporters.

“I think the playoffs in general provide a level of energy and I think with that you’re passionate about the opportunity where that can be invigorating and it can focus you and it can challenge you, as opposed to intimidating you.”

Trae Young was the star of the series when the Hawks and Knicks met in the 2021 first round, making the winning shot in Game 1 and bowing to the crowd that taunted him all series as the Hawks were closing out Game 5. But the Hawks moved on from their All-Star guard this season, trading him to Washington for CJ McCollum and Corey Kispert in January, and eventually started surging.

“They’re good at adjustments, clearly being able to have a pretty big trade midseason and then adjust to be the team that they are now,” Brunson said. “So they’ve been playing great and we’ve got to be ready for the challenge when it comes on Saturday.”

The Knicks had two three-point victories in Atlanta, while the Hawks won 111-99 at Madison Square Garden in January. Only one of the games was after the trade and it was a thriller: The Knicks won 108-105 on April 6, snapping the Hawks' 13-game home winning streak, when McCollum's half-court heave that would have tied it came just after the buzzer.

The series features two of the best players in the East. Brunson was 10th in the league with 26 points per game, and his eight 40-point games in the playoffs since 2023 are most in the league. Johnson averaged 22.5 points, 10.3 rebounds and 7.9 assists, all career highs and in the top 20 in the NBA.

Jock Landale will miss at least the first two weeks of the playoffs because of his sprained right ankle, leaving the Hawks without one of their center options to play against the Knicks' tandem of Towns and Mitchell Robinson.

___

AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba