The Knicks entered the fourth quarter of Sunday night's game one matchup against the Hawks with a two-point lead, and most importantly, had kept Trae Young off the foul line.
The dynamic point guard who finished third in the NBA in free throw attempts and the most by a guard had done some damage with 19 points, but none from the free throw line with the clock stopped.
One quarter later, the Knicks had dropped a heartbreaking 107-105 defeat, with Yong sinking the game-winner after pulling Atlanta back even behind nine free throw attempts in the final period.
For Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau, the discrepancy between foul shots for Young in the fourth quarter compared to the first three was too great to ignore.
"My thing is, I just want consistency," Thibodeau said after Tuesday's practice. "I don't care how the game is called. It can be called tight or loose, but be consistent. If that happens, there's a ton of plays that can go either way. It's a tough job. But it seemed like it was different in the fourth, and you don't want to see that."
Young drew a crucial foul call on RJ Barrett in the fourth quarter that Thibodeau challenged, only to have the call upheld. Young finished with 32 points, capped off by his game-winning floater with 0.9 seconds left to steal game one in New York.
The challenge for the Knicks in game two will be to use their trademark physical defense to contain Young while keeping him off the free throw line. On the other end, New York will look to exploit Young, like Barrett did in the fourth quarter when he had the undersized Young guarding him, prompting Barrett to back Young down into the paint with ease before knocking down a layup.
"We went over some stuff today at practice," Barrett said. "It worked, so if it happens again, we'll see."
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