The Atlanta Hawks lost Game 1 of their first round playoff series with the New York Knicks 113-102 on Saturday in Madison Square Garden in New York, but earlier today The Morning Shift gave three reasons why they think the Hawks will beat the Knicks in Game 2 tonight.
- Knicks won’t shoot 48% from the field & from 3PT in back-to-back games
The Knicks shot 48% from the field and from three point range in game one. They won’t sustain that for the entire series, and it’s more likely than not that they won’t do that in back to back games.
- Dyson Daniels is going to wear out Jalen Brunson
Jalen Brunson got off to a hot start in Game 1 hitting his first six shots, but was 3 for 16 after that, and according to Second Spectrum data Brunson only scored two points in Game 1 when Dyson Daniels was tracked as the primary defender.
Dyson is making Brunson work for every bucket he’s getting, and Jalen’s slow second half is a sign that Daniels’ defense is already taking a toll on him.
- Jalen Johnson & Nickeil Alexander-Walker will have better performances
At times in Game 1 Jalen Johnson and Nickeil Alexander-Walker both struggled to make shots they usually make. Nickeil more so than Jalen. Alexander-Walker went 6 for 17 from the field and 3 for 8 from three. Johnson went 8 for 19 from the field and 3 for 7 from three, which aren’t bad numbers, but there were a handful of shots in Game 1 that Jalen missed that he usually makes, and there were also times Jalen hesitated on and passed up some good looks as well.
Jalen didn’t really have any playoff experience going into this series, and nerves seemed to be a factor for him on Saturday night, so hopefully he’s gotten that out of his system and Nickeil has plenty of playoff experience from his time with the Minnesota Timberwolves, he just has to get his shots to fall.
Now, of course there are things the Hawks have to fix too. Atlanta can’t let the Knicks beat them in fast break points again, they must clean up their second half turnovers, and can’t afford to struggle in the third quarter the way they did in Game 1, but overall the Hawks didn’t play a bad game, and there’s definitely reason to believe that the Hawks will be able to steal Game 2 tonight and take home court advantage away from the Knicks.
