The New York Knicks lost a heartbreaking match 1 to the Atlanta Hawks by the score of 107-105 facing a raucous Madison Square Garden audience on Sunday night. They’ll now have to win 4 of their next 6 games in order to prevail and make it into the Eastern Conference semifinals, a place they haven’t been since their last postseason appearance in 2013.
Though a 0-1 hole is not perfect, there are nonetheless some positive takeaways. Rookies Immanuel Quickley and Obi Toppin equally played spectacularly in their first taste of playoff action, combining for 15 points on 6-10 shooting (3-4 from three) while coming off the seat.
RJ Barrett struggled with his shot (6-15) but he helped swing momentum back to the Knicks’ way when he finished a ridiculous dunk over Atlanta’s Bogdan Bogdanovic, easily among the greatest plays of this 20-year old’s brief NBA career.
A loss is still a loss, however. Fans know this current Knicks team won’t go down without a struggle, so the energy level should be even higher for the next matchup against Atlanta. There are also some alterations to be considered.
Head coach Tom Thibodeau might have to make some modifications to his current minutes distribution and style of play when the Knicks will pull this series out, particularly down the stretch of close games.
Listed below are three major changes which needs to be made before the start of Game 2 on Wednesday night.
