The Knicks host the Atlanta Hawks at the Garden tonight to avoid being eliminated in five games by the Hawks.
Or, in other words…
In all seriousness, it’s not like coming back from a 3-1 deficit when you’re not totally overwhelmed by the other team is impossible or anything like that. The Knicks could very well still win this series. It isn’t like the Nets/Celtics series where even had the Celtics pulled out Game 5, there was no way they were going to win two more games in that series. Here, the Knicks literally beat the Hawks all three times they played in the regular season, so why would it be impossible for them to win three in a row now? The answer is that it is not impossible. It’s very much a possibility. Not a strong possibility, but a possibility, especially back home at the Garden.
Clint Capela talked a lot of shit the other day about the Knicks being physical but not winning, so it would be nice for the Knicks to be physical tonight and win the game.
Rose and Taj remain in the starting lineup. The Knicks are really going to need Rose to play well throughout the game. As the joke goes, Thibs has discovered that when you start Derrick Rose, you sadly lose the ability to then sub in Derrick Rose off of the bench, as well, but he will try his best to do both tonight.
Julius Randle has had a lot of shit thrown at him the last few days, so it would be sure swell to see him deliver one of those monster games we know he is capable of (again, he has scored more than 40 points in a game four times in his career, half of them were against the Hawks this season).
Let’s go, bring this series back to Atlanta, Knicks!