So...Game 3

[JayBirdHawk]

What do we do?

 

 

[JayBirdHawk]

We need more from our front court: Capela, Collins, Gallo and Snell.

We can't settle for 3s.

No more ALL BENCH (unless they are on fire). No more 'Normal' rotation

More Hunter driving, he had 11 free throws attempts.

More Trae minutes. It's the playoffs.

[JayBirdHawk]

If Gallo can't get it together on offense...

 

 

 

[JeffS17]

My takes:

• McMillan should alter the rotations a bit: I don't necessarily think the minutes were the issue (starters weren't making shots either), but maybe stagger Collins/Bogi a bit in the second unit.  Those guys should cook the Knicks second unit and we can run specific sets for them.  I think Nate is right to preserve guys legs when the Knicks game plan was to collapse the paint all night -- guess it didn't matter last night, but in general I don't mind the minutes being played in a game 2 (up 1 game).  When it gets to game 4-5 I want to see less bench time for Trae
• Trae just needs to keep doing more of the same, he's balanced shooting and facilitating really well this series
• Collins has to be more physical in the paint, try to draw some fouls and finish, but more importantly, boxing out and getting boards
• Capela has to be more physical too if they're not calling offensive fouls -- Randle and Gibson were allowed to shoulder shove our guys all night
• My favorite attribute of Bogi is his willingness to fire off a shot, but he has to settle down.  He was rushing shots that did not need to be rushed and we were not having issues getting good looks across the board
• Heurter needs to drive into the paint more, he's surprisingly good when he gets into the paint and they're not respecting him 
• Gallo obviously just needs to hit shots.  He gets gassed so quickly too so Collins being in foul trouble didn't help
• Hunter has been fine, looks mostly out of game shape so not sure how many minutes we can run him
• Lou needs to run the offense like Trae does, or we need to run a lot of off-ball screens/DHOs or something different when he's in.  I don't understand some of his decisions, always finds himself pinned down somewhere and has to launch a contested fadeaway or turn it over
• I can't remember who said it in the game thread but I agree Solo might deserve minutes over Snell in this series.  Snell is such an atrocious defender I think we could benefit from Solo being out there and he's not quite bad enough to just leave open outside the arc
• I wouldn't mind seeing more Okongwu if Gallo continues to brick shots all night or if we end up with front court foul trouble again.  He can look lost at times but the effort is there and he's a better defender at the 5 than everyone except Capela

Officiating aside, I think we have outplayed the Knicks in both games.  Their defense has been banking on us missing open looks from 3 and that will not continue game after game.  I expect either game 3 or 4 to be a complete blowout win.  Also, Randle is getting exposed this series.  He's a good player but he's not a #1 playoff option.  They're lucky Rose is in such good form, they'd be lost without him

[JayBirdHawk]

 

 

[JayBirdHawk]

8 minutes ago, JayBirdHawk said:

With all the Shenanigans - Hawks had every chance to win this game.  With 5:06 left, the score was tied at 91 on a Capela dunk.  Then it all went downhill. 

Bogi - missed 3, Capela - missed bunny, Bogi - missed 3, Hunter - missed 3, Hunter - missed 3, Young - missed 3, Bogi - missed 3, Hunter - missed alley hoop, Hunter - got fouled, hit 1 free throw - that was all Folks. So that is 

1 point in the last 5 minutes.

This is settling for 3s.  We can't do this!

[JayBirdHawk]

^^^

 

 

[JayBirdHawk]

Love his confidence and so far he deserves top billing. Just need the rest of the team to match this. 

 

 

[kg01]

I don't think major adjustments are needed, line-up wise or whatever.  Hawks have controlled basically all but 2 quarters of the 2 games and we've had multiple guys not show up.

"Normal" games from Bodg and Jollins and we're up 2-0.

Before the series started, I did say the Colonel Solo would be big for us so perhaps you give him some minutes.  His toughness and ability to injure opposing players since that's the game NKY has decided to play would certainly be helpful.

(Dang, I meant to turn off track-changes.)

[JayBirdHawk]

Indeed!!!

 

 

..and this. Toughen up guys.  I'd rather you get fouls being aggressive.

 

 

[kg01]

1 minute ago, JayBirdHawk said:

Indeed!!!

 

 

..and this. Toughen up guys.  I'd rather you get fouls being aggressive.

 

 

Need someone to match Gibson's effort.  Not sure OO is up to it.  For better or worse, we need Solo.  He atleast knows what playoff physicality is all about plus he's about 73% likely to end some Knicks player's season.  Hey you started it, Knicks.

(Dang, am I stuck on track-changes again?)

[JayBirdHawk]

He played 31 minutes.

 

 

[JayBirdHawk]

 

 

[JayBirdHawk]

 

 

[REHawksFan]

1 hour ago, JayBirdHawk said:

With all the Shenanigans - Hawks had every chance to win this game.  With 5:06 left, the score was tied at 91 on a Capela dunk.  Then it all went downhill. 

Bogi - missed 3, Capela - missed bunny, Bogi - missed 3, Hunter - missed 3, Hunter - missed 3, Young - missed 3, Bogi - missed 3, Hunter - missed alley hoop, Hunter - got fouled, hit 1 free throw - that was all Folks. So that is 

1 point in the last 5 minutes.

Lotta misses those last 5 minutes.  But what I see more than anything else is this:   

Bogi - 3 Shots

Hunter - 4 Shots

Capela - 1 Shot

Young - 1 Shot

 

Last 5 minutes of a HUGE game, this can't happen.  I understand getting teammates involved.  I understand trusting these guys.  I understand they were open.  But after an entire half of pathetic shooting from the entire team (other than Young), I need my superstar to say F it, this is MY game now and take over.  I felt like he could score at will during each of the 2 games.  Even his miss, I think, rimmed out.  

I'm fine with getting teammates involved early on.  He has to do that for the team to be successful.  But the last 5 minutes, the last 2 minutes, whatever the game dictates needs to be Trae Time.  That's what superstars do when they sense the game getting away from their team.  They take over.  Trae dominated for 2.5 quarters and then got passive.  That can't happen.  

[JeffS17]

6 minutes ago, REHawksFan said:

Lotta misses those last 5 minutes.  But what I see more than anything else is this:   

Bogi - 3 Shots

Hunter - 4 Shots

Capela - 1 Shot

Young - 1 Shot

 

Last 5 minutes of a HUGE game, this can't happen.  I understand getting teammates involved.  I understand trusting these guys.  I understand they were open.  But after an entire half of pathetic shooting from the entire team (other than Young), I need my superstar to say F it, this is MY game now and take over.  I felt like he could score at will during each of the 2 games.  Even his miss, I think, rimmed out.  

I'm fine with getting teammates involved early on.  He has to do that for the team to be successful.  But the last 5 minutes, the last 2 minutes, whatever the game dictates needs to be Trae Time.  That's what superstars do when they sense the game getting away from their team.  They take over.  Trae dominated for 2.5 quarters and then got passive.  That can't happen.  

I usually agree with your posts but I really don't on this one.  The Knicks defense was all-in on stopping Trae.  If he were to have forced bad shots, the narrative would have been he tried to hero ball and couldn't make it work.  Trae isn't KD or Lebron or anyone that has size and can impose their will.  If he gets doubled, he's not going to get a good shot off.  I never want Trae to lose faith in his teammates because they missed some shots -- I want him to keep making the right play and take advantage of what the defense gives him.

Sorry for the rant but I feel pretty strongly on this because I've seen so many teams crumble because their star player starts going rogue and trying to take over the game himself.  This is fine if the defense is letting it happen through switching mismatches or soft coverage, but that wasn't the case last night.

[Spud2nique]

We didn’t make shots but honestly that’s what happens in playoff basketball when teams tighten up both ways. 
 

I think we get back to Atlanta and just stick to our principles and tighten up some of the screening and the minor issues but I’m not too worried about how we showed out in game 2. A couple boxers feeling each other out a bit.

Gallo gets hot and it brings a whole nother dimension. That Travis Bickle haircut isn’t working great so far. We’ve seen it before in the regular season where he went 2-11, but he did it in a stretch of 5 or 6 games, we don’t have the time for that. He needs to get it going.

Collins donut doesn’t worry me though, again he did it in the flow of our offense. 
 

Game 3 should be ours if we come in with our game plan and stick to it. Outside of Bullock and Burks, they struggle from the perimeter. 

[REHawksFan]

8 minutes ago, JeffS17 said:

I usually agree with your posts but I really don't on this one.  The Knicks defense was all-in on stopping Trae.  If he were to have forced bad shots, the narrative would have been he tried to hero ball and couldn't make it work.  Trae isn't KD or Lebron or anyone that has size and can impose their will.  If he gets doubled, he's not going to get a good shot off.  I never want Trae to lose faith in his teammates because they missed some shots -- I want him to keep making the right play and take advantage of what the defense gives him.

Sorry for the rant but I feel pretty strongly on this because I've seen so many teams crumble because their star player starts going rogue and trying to take over the game himself.  This is fine if the defense is letting it happen through switching mismatches or soft coverage, but that wasn't the case last night.

I'm not advocating he forget his teammates all together, just saying when the game is on the line and the teammates can't throw it in the ocean, I'm OK with him playing hero in the last few minutes of the game.  Even if he misses he's doing no worse than his teammates.  I just think Trae creating and getting a shot up is a higher % play in some cases than continuing to go to the same guys that miss time after time.  At some point, it's just not their night.  

ON this team, Bogie is probably the only guy that I would say could be cold as ice and still drain a late shot.  The rest though?  Nah.  

[hawkzlova123]

Who's going???

[JeffS17]

9 minutes ago, REHawksFan said:

I'm not advocating he forget his teammates all together, just saying when the game is on the line and the teammates can't throw it in the ocean, I'm OK with him playing hero in the last few minutes of the game.  Even if he misses he's doing no worse than his teammates.  I just think Trae creating and getting a shot up is a higher % play in some cases than continuing to go to the same guys that miss time after time.  At some point, it's just not their night.  

ON this team, Bogie is probably the only guy that I would say could be cold as ice and still drain a late shot.  The rest though?  Nah.  

Yeah, you just dont know the guys will continue missing, thats hindsighting the results.  We've seen so many games of guys being cold then hitting big shots in the 4th.  Trae doesnt know they'll keep missing!

I still think we need to stagger Bogi a bit and let him run the second unit ~5-10 minutes of the game