Final Score Picks and Predictions For Tonight's Hawks-Knicks Game Three Matchup

One of the biggest games in recent seasons has arrived for the Atlanta Hawks.

The Hawks had a frantic comeback in game two vs the Knicks and it resulted in a big win that evened the series and gave Atlanta homecourt advantage. Now the question is can the Hawks take advantage of having homecourt and go up in the series 2-1?

Preview

So what do the Hawks have to do to get a game three win over New York?

The offense has been talked about plenty, but it is still the No.1 thing that Atlanta needs to improve. In the two playoff games and the last regular season game against the Knicks, Atlanta's halfcourt offense has not been able to get going against the physicality that New York brings on that end of the court. Josh Hart has done a great job of limiting Jalen Johnson while OG Anunoby and Mikal Bridges have done their part as well.

The Hawks were able to successfully attack Knicks guard Jalen Brunson in pick and roll situations and you can bet that they are going to continue doing that. The Knicks are going to have to find a counter to that and Atlanta is going to have to be ready.

CJ McCollum has been great for the Hawks and is coming off a 32 point game and he has been able to take advantage of the matchup when Brunson is switched onto him. How will the Knicks adjust to McCollum and will they mix up their defensive assignments and coverages?

For the Hawks offense to get going. they could use big games from Jalen Johnson and Nickeil Alexander-Walker. Both players have been slow to get going and it should be encouraging to the Hawks that they were able to win a game and two of their top players have yet to get going.

Jonathan Kuminga came off the bench last game to score 19 points and play great defense in the fourth quarter. Will the Hawks use him to guard Karl-Anthony Towns like last game? It worked well and was a huge reason that Kuminga ended up closing the game for the Hawks over Dyson Daniels.

The rest of the Hawks bench will include Gabe Vincent, Mo Gueye and/or Tony Bradley, and Corey Kispert. Kispert got the minutes over Zaccharie Risacher iin the last game and played well. I doubt that changes unless Quin Snyder wants to re-insert Risacher into the lineup.

What can the Hawks expect from the Knicks? NYK head coach Mike Brown took a lot of flak for not having one of Jalen Brunson or Karl-Anthony Towns on the floor at all times and I would bet he learns from that mistake. Will Brown also lean more into the double big lineup of Mitchell Robinson and Towns? Robinson has been a problem for the Hawks, but he has not played as many minutes as you might expect.

Pay close attention to the Hawks defensive matchups in this game. They began the last game with Dyson Daniels guarding Towns and not letting Onyeka Okongwu or any of their bigs guard him. Aside from a great 1st quarter in game one, the Hawks have done about as well of a job as you can in guarding Jalen Brunson. Daniels and Alexander-Walker have done a great job of guarding Brunson and they have to keep that going tonight.

As I said earlier, I think the Hawks have to be encouraged that they have not played their best basketball and yet the series is 1-1. I think the Hawks will play better at home and get the win and series lead.

Final Score: Hawks 115, Knicks 111

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