Official Game Thread: Hawks at Knicks -- GAME 2

[bleachkit]

Some adjustments for game 3.

-Solo. Solo is a dog, a grinder, this series is made for him. Snell has been a non factor

-Get JC some deliberate touches. This team is a tough match up for JC as he's struggles against physical bigs, but we gotta get him going

-Play Trae more. Sometimes you gotta say "f it" and play your best player more minutes

 

[Wretch]

1 hour ago, HawkingAwesome said:

All hawks need to do is hit their open shots

It's this.  It's not JC.  It's not Nate.  It's this...

Game 2 played out exactly as I thought worst case scenario would:

- Physical NY defense
- Hostile crowd fueling the fire
- Crap calls/no calls
- Lack of focus: lack of sense of urgency being up or playing timid being down
- Missing open shots

That will end this series quickly in favor of NY.  It's the Hawks beating themselves.  My biggest specific player concerns right now are Gallo and to a lesser extent Capela.  Gallo for obvious reasons, but Capela has a tendency to go up soft around the basket.  It works for him, obviously.  Against this physical NY team though, he's gotta go up strong and look for the dunk/put-back vs. that tippy-tap sh!t around the basket.

[AHF]

1 hour ago, NBASupes said:

These numbers are extremely misleading. Cam guarded Durant and Hunter guarded Tatum. Man, you sly fox AHF 

Wait...I'm confused.

Didn't you bring up those names because you said JC would have trouble guarding them and being guarded by them?  Why are you now saying they actually won't match up against each other?  Like if Hunter is going to match up with Tatum then why bring up Tatum's name at all when discussing JC?

[NBASupes]

17 minutes ago, AHF said:

Wait...I'm confused.

Didn't you bring up those names because you said JC would have trouble guarding them and being guarded by them?  Why are you now saying they actually won't match up against each other?  Like if Hunter is going to match up with Tatum then why bring up Tatum's name at all when discussing JC?

JC never guarded Tatum. He always guarded one of the guards like Smart if available. Theis is usually guarded by Capela or Jones. Atlanta put Hunter on Tatum and Cam on Brown.

[AHF]

3 minutes ago, NBASupes said:

JC never guarded Tatum. He always guarded one of the guards like Smart if available. Theis is usually guarded by Capela or Jones. Atlanta put Hunter on Tatum and Cam on Brown.

So why are you bringing Tatum up?  He would struggle guarding Chris Paul too but if we would put Hunter on Tatum then it seems pretty irrelevant.  Cam and Brown are both out.

[Sothron]

1 hour ago, Thomas said:

In today's environment that has been filed as aggravated assault several times. How low can they go? 

I don't know. They are making a big deal out of popcorn being dumped on Westbrook which is very wrong but Trae Young gets literally SPIT ON by a Knicks fan and nothing? I mean NOTHING is being said about it. Unreal.

[NBASupes]

4 minutes ago, Sothron said:

I don't know. They are making a big deal out of popcorn being dumped on Westbrook which is very wrong but Trae Young gets literally SPIT ON by a Knicks fan and nothing? I mean NOTHING is being said about it. Unreal.

Both are assault. You don't dump food on people and not expect to get your ass kicked. Spitting is complete disrespect. He should be banned and jailed

[kg01]

10 minutes ago, Sothron said:

I don't know. They are making a big deal out of popcorn being dumped on Westbrook which is very wrong but Trae Young gets literally SPIT ON by a Knicks fan and nothing? I mean NOTHING is being said about it. Unreal.

Wait, that happened?  I tuned out of NBA at some point last night.  Whoever did that should be arrested.  Period.

[NBASupes]

45 minutes ago, Wretch said:

It's this.  It's not JC.  It's not Nate.  It's this...

Game 2 played out exactly as I thought worst case scenario would:

- Physical NY defense
- Hostile crowd fueling the fire
- Crap calls/no calls
- Lack of focus: lack of sense of urgency being up or playing timid being down
- Missing open shots

That will end this series quickly in favor of NY.  It's the Hawks beating themselves.  My biggest specific player concerns right now are Gallo and to a lesser extent Capela.  Gallo for obvious reasons, but Capela has a tendency to go up soft around the basket.  It works for him, obviously.  Against this physical NY team though, he's gotta go up strong and look for the dunk/put-back vs. that tippy-tap sh!t around the basket.

Truth is, the Hawks wings got beat the fd up. They were tired, legs was weak and the NY crowd did its job. 

[Sothron]

5 minutes ago, kg01 said:

Wait, that happened?  I tuned out of NBA at some point last night.  Whoever did that should be arrested.  Period.

Yes, there's a gif running around twitter showing it too. He got spit on while waiting out of bounds.

[Final_quest]

16 minutes ago, Sothron said:

I don't know. They are making a big deal out of popcorn being dumped on Westbrook which is very wrong but Trae Young gets literally SPIT ON by a Knicks fan and nothing? I mean NOTHING is being said about it. Unreal.

I just did a Google search and it is being reported on tons of outlets.  SI, NBC Sports, CBS Sports, Fox News, etc.  Haven't watched any ESPN or listened to any talk shows, but the media is reporting on it.  

[Sothron]

11 minutes ago, NBASupes said:

Both are assault. You don't dump food on people and not expect to get your ass kicked. Spitting is complete disrespect. He should be banned and jailed

I agree both are assault. I do know that I was raised in a trailer park. I can't speak to anyone else but someone spitting on you is waaay worse than having popcorn thrown at you. You spit on me we are fighting until I beat that ass raw. And I'm an Orthodox Christian that hates violence.

[NBASupes]

JC maybe soft but he's critical for us. NY has to respect his presence around the basket. They didn't for Gallo and it showed

[NBASupes]

2 minutes ago, Sothron said:

I agree both are assault. I do know that I was raised in a trailer park. I can't speak to anyone else but someone spitting on you is waaay worse than having popcorn thrown at you. You spit on me we are fighting until I beat that ass raw. And I'm an Orthodox Christian that hates violence.

Facts! Regardless of where I lived if you spit on me, you better ask your friends of about what size shirt they wear because you will have your face on it if you spit on me.

Edited May 27, 2021 by NBASupes

[kg01]

11 hours ago, FL_BRYANT said:

This is the physicality I was talking about.  The Hawks have to put their big boy pants on and fight back. Don't sit around waiting for the refs to bail you out. The Knicks can only win if they punk the Hawks.  If the Hawks match their physicality defensively and on the boards we win this series.  

This is what I was thinking as I listened (didn't watch) last night.  Like, the Hawks are playing basketball.  The knicks aren't.

That said, it sounded like we had control of the game despite all that.  So I remember thinking, 'keep playing basketball and we'll be fine'.  Then shots stopped dropping in the 3rd and the reserves let the Knicks back in.

But did the shots stop dropping because they failed to respond to the physicality?  I kept thinking, "why is every shot a 3?  why is no one penetrating?"

Those who watched, did you get that impression from body language and such?

I feel like, if we keep playing basketball, it should make their obvious non-basketball plays look as desperate as they are.  But "playing basketball" includes going to the basket when the jumper's aren't falling.

[hawkman]

5 minutes ago, Final_quest said:

I just did a Google search and it is being reported on tons of outlets.  SI, NBC Sports, CBS Sports, Fox News, etc.  Haven't watched any ESPN or listened to any talk shows, but the media is reporting on it.  

Good. They also need to "report" on Noel intentionally tripping Trae. Sports media is getting out-scooped by social media at this point. The sports media is too busy celebrating the Knicks' victory to do their jobs. If Capela or Solo did that to Rose during the Knicks' run in the 3rd quarter, it would be all over sports media today. Noel should've gotten a flagrant 2 and been ejected. Since he didn't, he should be unavailable for Game 3.

[bleachkit]

1 minute ago, hawkman said:

Good. They also need to "report" on Noel intentionally tripping Trae. Sports media is getting out-scooped by social media at this point. The sports media is too busy celebrating the Knicks' victory to do their jobs. If Capela or Solo did that to Rose during the Knicks' run in the 3rd quarter, it would be all over sports media today. Noel should've gotten a flagrant 2 and been ejected. Since he didn't, he should be unavailable for Game 3.

Could you post the footage of the incident in question.

[macdaddy]

10 minutes ago, kg01 said:

But did the shots stop dropping because they failed to respond to the physicality?  I kept thinking, "why is every shot a 3?  why is no one penetrating?"

We quit running the offense.  It was usually one guy trying to make a play.  they just lost their composure a bit.  But it wasn't so much the crowd or defense or anything.  When Bogi/Gallo/Lou/Hunter started missing every wide open shot they had we just got out of sorts.   Bogi kept launching tough 3s for no reason.   

The thing everyone overlooks is the Knicks played like absolute crap.  In some ways worse than game one.   Rose saved their ass but they can't win this series on the backs of Rose and Gibson.  This ain't 2012 it's 2021.  If Randle and some others don't show up bigger they're toast unless we just totally implode.  

The Hawks can only beat themselves.  

Edited May 27, 2021 by macdaddy

[hawkman]

3 minutes ago, bleachkit said:

Could you post the footage of the incident in question.

Noel Trips Trae

[kg01]

6 minutes ago, Sothron said:

I agree both are assault. I do know that I was raised in a trailer park. I can't speak to anyone else but someone spitting on you is waaay worse than having popcorn thrown at you. You spit on me we are fighting until I beat that ass raw. And I'm an Orthodox Christian that hates violence.

I can't fathom why this isn't a bigger deal.  Well, I take that back, if Trae had winked at a fan in the 14th row the NY a**-kissing media would be having a field day.

Spitting on someone isn't even in the same stratosphere as dumping popcorn.

Someone spits on me and they're gonna need the jaws of life to pry me off that person's neck.

4 minutes ago, NBASupes said:

Facts! Regardless of where I lived if you spit on me, you better ask your friends of about what size shirt they wear because you will have your face on it if you spit on me.

It took me a minute to get this  but I'm right with you.  It's gonna be a lotta slow-singin' and flower-bringin'.

That's despicable.  I'm so sick and freaking tired of this "smart NY fan" bullsh*t.  It took one freaking playoff game for me to realize how low-brow, uneducated, unaware, and bush league NY fans are.  Just because there's a lotta you and you're loud and brash, doesn't make to a good fan.  At all.

Cursing at some kid you don't even know because he *gasp* plays for a different team?  That doesn't make you a great fan.  It makes you a whole a**.

It's time to end that narrative.  These people(sic) aren't fans.  They're grown kids who choose to pay 100 times the cost for 1000 times less space.

And where does this MYTH of successful NY Knick basketball come from?  Tell me?  The last time they won something, 95% of us WERE NOT ALIVE!!

"Oh these Knicks are just like the 90's Knicks!"

Well, as an opposing fan, I hope so.  Know why?  'Cause they ain't win sh*t!!

Pat Ewing ... he ain't win sh*t!

Oh Charles Oakley wuz tough .. he ain't win sh*t!

Matter of fact, the Bulls ain't win sh*t 'til they got his a** outta Chicago.

Jon Starks ... how you a "legend" and you ain't win sh*t!  Your crowning achievement is shooting the team out of a game.  How you walk around like somebody supposed to revere you?  Fake a** "star".

I said it before and I'll keep saying it, we'll be doing the world a huge favor by eliminating these never-was's.