New York Knicks Eliminate Atlanta Hawks By Unfathomable Amount
The Atlanta Hawks just lost the series in six games to the New York Knicks. Given the playoff experience disparity here and the seeding, that's not a huge stunner. The Knicks have made deep playoff runs, while these Hawks haven't. That they came back from down 2-1 to eliminate Atlanta is an outcome that plenty predicted.
What no one could have possibly predicted was the margin of victory. The Knicks demolished the Hawks, sending the home fans screaming for the exits during the second quarter. They were probably right to do so, as the deficit only got worse as the Hawks were eliminated.
New York Knicks beat Atlanta Hawks by 51 in elimination game
The New York Knicks had seemingly not played to their ability in plenty of the games in this series. They lost a couple of heartbreakers after blowing leads late in the first three games and fell behind 2-1. Suddenly, the upstart Atlanta Hawks had the momentum in a series that was truly up in the air.
The Knicks quickly reminded everyone who they can be with decisive wins in the next two games, putting them back up 3-2. The Hawks were on thin ice, but at least they got a home contest to stretch the series to seven games and try to flip momentum.
Momentum would not be flipped. The Knicks put a generational beating on the Hawks, leading by the most points at halftime in NBA playoff history before eventually winning by 51. That followed a 14-point win in Game 4 and a 29-point win in Game 5. The Knicks were seemingly building strength and then took it all out on the Hawks.
The game was truly over by the second quarter. The largest comeback in the playoffs is 31 points, and the Hawks were down by 41 midway through the second quarter and 47 at halftime. There was pretty much no hope, and things only snowballed from there despite the Knicks pulling their starters pretty early.
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Mike Brown comments on blowout wins
The Knicks hadn't been operating at their best offensively through three games. The Hawks were pesky on defense, and New York had to work for every point. That helped the Hawks steal a couple of games in the final minute and seemingly put themselves in the driver's seat. Mike Brown said changes were made after that, and they definitely paid off.
"The biggest thing is we had to change our offense," Brown said. "Again, not as drastic as we probably did halfway through the year, but we had to change it because every possession was a grind those first three games, especially down the stretch."
It resulted in those big wins, but it also resulted in a final-game triple-double for Karl Anthony-Towns, his second of the series. Towns is not the primary facilitator for the Knicks, but he broke down Atlanta's defense with ease when given the opportunity.
"They forced us to put our thinking caps on, and they forced us to play different," Brown said. "Find ways to make the game easier for our players while putting them in their strengths, while trying not to hinder them." Now, they await the winner of 76ers-Celtics, and the Hawks are heading to the offseason.
