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The NBA season has been a wild ride thus far, and we are just over a quarter of the way through. We are pausing the regular season for a couple of nights to solely focus on the NBA Emirates Cup. We have an Eastern Conference Quarterfinals matchup between the Atlanta Hawks and New York Knicks.
This article will recap how each team played in pool play, preview this matchup, and dish out our favorite pick from the matchup.
The Atlanta Hawks have had a roller-coaster season. Many of their role players have been injured, but they have still found their way into the top-six seeds of the Eastern Conference.
Not only are they a top-six seed in the playoff picture, but they also came out of their NBA Cup Group as the leaders. The Hawks went 3-1 in pool play, with their only loss coming against the Chicago Bulls. They beat the Celtics, Wizards and Cavs, which was one of the tougher pools in all of the NBA Cup.
Trae Young led the Hawks in scoring throughout pool play, averaging just over 21 points per game. Not only did he lead the team in scoring, but he also led the team in assists with 11 per game, averaging a double-double. At times, Young has had issues scoring the basketball this season, but the assist numbers are always great.
A big part of Young’s success is the two-man game between him and Jalen Johnson. Johnson has taken a monster step forward this season, averaging over 20 points per game in NBA Cup action. He has taken his game to the next level and will need to continue to do so if the Hawks want to keep advancing.
The New York Knicks have had a good start to their season. Their offense has taken a step forward since adding Karl-Anthony Towns in the offseason, ranking first in offensive rating. The two-man game between him and Jalen Brunson has been terrific thus far.
The defense can struggle because of the lack of rim protection Towns provides. However, the Knicks can get away with it when you have perimeter defenders like Mikal Bridges, Josh Hart and OG Anunoby.
The Knicks went undefeated in pool play, beating the Magic, 76ers, Nets and Hornets, and they finished with a point differential of +30. They were not blowing teams out in pool play, but they still got the job done. Jalen Brunson led the team in scoring at almost 27 points per game, while KAT averaged a 20-10 double-double in NBA Cup action.
The Knicks hope that trend continues throughout the NBA Cup and the rest of the regular season. The playoffs will be a different animal, but they will cross that path when they get there.
These two teams met up once this season, and the Hawks were able to take care of business at home 121-116. The Hawks were led by rookie Zaccharie Risacher in that game, as he finished with a career-high 33 points and knocked down 6 three-pointers. Trae Young and Jalen Johnson both chipped in with double-doubles in this one.
The defense of Dyson Daniels disrupted the Knicks offense that night as he came away with four steals. He guarded Jalen Brunson most of the night, holding him to 8-18 shooting and three turnovers. As for KAT, he got his that night, finishing with 34 points, but the rim protection was lacking, allowing Clint Capela to score 18 points.
Looking ahead to this game, we believe that the Knicks will win this game on the back of their outstanding offense. However, our pick is going to be Trae Young from the Hawks. We mentioned above that Trae Young has struggled to score the basketball at times. With the Knicks having a multitude of defenders they can throw at Young, it could be a long night for the small guard. With that said, our Hawks vs Knicks pick is on Trae Young scoring fewer than 22 points in this matchup.
Dylan has had a love for sports since he was a kid. Four years ago, he decided to dive into the sports content-creating industry specializing in Fantasy Football, NFL and NBA. He has since had his work published on sites that include Fantasy Alarm, Fansided, and Fantasy Six Pack.