{"id":1904821,"date":"2026-04-27T09:30:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-27T06:30:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1904821"},"modified":"2026-04-27T09:30:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-27T06:30:13","slug":"mikal-bridges-jalen-johnson-and-more-knicks-hawks-questions-to-ponder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1904821","title":{"rendered":"Mikal Bridges, Jalen Johnson and more Knicks-Hawks questions to ponder"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

It\u2019s anyone\u2019s series now.<\/p>\n

With the New York Knicks and Atlanta Hawks\u2019 Eastern Conference first-round bout tied at two games a piece<\/a> and with Game 5 scheduled for Tuesday, James L. Edwards III and Fred Katz got together to break down what has been a chaotic four games.<\/p>\n

What Knicks-related storyline are you paying attention to for the rest of the series?<\/h2>\n

Edwards:<\/strong> Can New York win this series while getting very little out of Mikal Bridges?<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

To say this has been a difficult period for Bridges would be an understatement. He\u2019s been stuck to the bench for, basically, the final 24 minutes of the last two games. His defense hasn\u2019t been bad, but the offense isn\u2019t there. He\u2019s not shooting it particularly well, and he\u2019s been turning the ball over more than he\u2019s accustomed to.<\/p>\n

\n

Knicks coach Mike Brown pushed the right buttons in the Game 4 win by playing both Miles McBride and Jordan Clarkson more minutes than Bridges. My guess is that will continue in Game 5.<\/p>\n

McBride has appeared to find his shooting stroke after it went away following his return from hernia surgery. Clarkson is doing the dirty work that only recently became his trademark style. Banking on 45 minutes of guard play from McBride and Clarkson could be risky if the former isn\u2019t making shots and the latter isn\u2019t defending at a good enough level.<\/p>\n

Both have answered the call so far, but New York can\u2019t afford for Bridges, McBride and Clarkson to not be productive offensively. In a world where all three don\u2019t have it, it\u2019s hard to see how Atlanta doesn\u2019t steal at least one more game.<\/p>\n

Katz:<\/strong> Can Jalen Brunson best the Hawks\u2019 guards?<\/p>\n

Through four games, the answer has been no. Atlanta\u2019s defense revolves around the two guys perched at the top of it, Dyson Daniels and Nickeil Alexander-Walker. Both have taken turns on Brunson. Each has found success.<\/p>\n

Daniels, especially, has been magnificent. He has cornered Brunson up against the half-court line, using the backcourt as a sixth defender and poking away steals. Normally a ball-control point guard, Brunson had six turnovers in Game 4.<\/p>\n

The Hawks have syphoned off driving lanes. Nothing is easy for the Knicks\u2019 ballhandlers \u2014 not just Brunson but any of them, including Bridges, who has shied away from dribbling any time one of Atlanta\u2019s thieves is near. The defensive effort and quality has been extraordinary, but that\u2019s never before stopped Brunson from figuring it out over the course of a playoff series.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Will he continue to shoot an unusually low 48 percent in the restricted area? Will he keep running into walls on pick-and-rolls? If Daniels continues to hound him, will he call his own number as often? After Game 3, Brunson called his floor game \u201cnot good.\u201d He had only three assists in Game 4, when the Knicks got him off the ball more and turned to Karl-Anthony Towns, who has dominated when given an opportunity in this series, for most facilitation. If Brunson can join Towns at the top of the totem pole, the Knicks won\u2019t be easy to beat.<\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n

<\/span>
\n <\/span>\n <\/div>\n

What Hawks-related storyline are you paying attention to for the rest of the series?<\/h2>\n

Edwards:<\/strong> Will Jonathan Kuminga find consistency?<\/p>\n

In the Hawks\u2019 two victories, Kuminga is shooting 16 of 26 from the floor. In the Hawks\u2019 two losses, Kuminga is shooting 6 of 17.<\/p>\n

New York has to give up something, and it\u2019s allowing Kuminga to shoot in the half court while trying to limit him, and others, in transition. The 23-year-old has been all over the place offensively, and Atlanta desperately needs him to not be as bad as he was in Game 4. Daniels, if he\u2019s not the best defender on the planet, has shown to be unplayable at times, and Kuminga, when he\u2019s rolling, has been the one to pick up the slack.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

{“endpoint”:”https:\/\/api-prd-nyt.theathletic.com\/graphql”}<\/p>\n

The Hawks can\u2019t afford both Kuminga and Daniels to be negatives offensively. They\u2019re not deep enough. Kuminga has more juice than Daniels does on that end of the floor, but his squeaky jump shot and decision-making makes him a wild card.<\/p>\n

Katz:<\/strong> Can Jalen Johnson turn the water back on?<\/p>\n

The top dogs on each team, the two Jalens, have both struggled. In Johnson\u2019s case, it\u2019s part of learning about life in the playoffs, where he\u2019s never been.<\/p>\n

Johnson\u2019s shooting numbers are down. He\u2019s meeting contact whenever he arrives at the rim. And it\u2019s not often he\u2019s getting there, either. But the missing points from the Hawks\u2019 leading scorer isn\u2019t what stands out most.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Josh Hart has been physical with Johnson. When Johnson drives, Hart cuts him off. When he makes a quick first step, Hart has kept up with him. And with the Knicks\u2019 sparkplug sticking with Johnson one-on-one, New York hasn\u2019t had to converge on him as often, which has limited his playmaking. Johnson isn\u2019t just a large, athletic forward. He\u2019s also Atlanta\u2019s leading creator, but he hasn\u2019t been as effective in that role against New York.<\/p>\n

He has made only 13 passes from the paint during the first four games of the series, according to Second Spectrum. He\u2019s not driving to the hoop as often, an ode not just to Hart\u2019s physicality but also his closeouts and urgent transition defense.<\/p>\n

Young players sometimes take a playoff series or two before they grow comfortable. For some guys, it takes longer. For others, it never happens at all. But every once in a while, a high-IQ player, like Johnson most certainly is, will figure out how to combat playoff grit in the middle of a series.<\/p>\n

Atlanta gets a leg up on the series if Johnson looks more like the likely All-NBA version of himself who dominated during the regular season.<\/p>\n

What development over the first four games has surprised you the most?<\/h2>\n

Edwards:<\/strong> I don\u2019t want to say that I\u2019m surprised \u2014 because we saw it a ton toward the end of the regular season \u2014 but Hart, four games in, still being the Knicks\u2019 best defender has been the most important angle of New York\u2019s playoff run.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s no secret that the worst version of the Knicks comes out when the defense is lacking physicality. That\u2019s been the case since October. Hart has taken serious pride on that end this entire series. He\u2019s stripped Johnson of his pride, and he\u2019s been the only one to make CJ McCollum look mortal.<\/p>\n

Hart\u2019s ability to toggle between Atlanta\u2019s two best offensive weapons and really make them work was a big reason why New York dominated Game 4. He made them both miss shots and created turnovers that allowed the slow-paced Knicks to get out in transition and play a little faster.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

New York can win games without Hart being a huge factor as a scorer. We\u2019ve seen it time and time again. The Knicks, though, won\u2019t win many games without someone setting the tone defensively, and Hart has done that nonstop, making him, in my opinion, the team\u2019s most important player so far.<\/p>\n

\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n Josh Hart has done a little bit of everything for New York in these playoffs. (Kevin C. Cox \/ Getty Images)<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Katz:<\/strong> Bridges\u2019 diminished role. James, you touched on this, but I did not see a fall-off like this occurring, especially after he took a step up during last postseason.<\/p>\n

This goes beyond shooting or scoring. Bridges has removed himself from the Knicks\u2019 primary actions. With McCollum, the weakest defender in the Hawks\u2019 starting lineup, guarding him much of the time, he\u2019s run only 12 pick-and-rolls. All series. He\u2019s set only 13 ball screens. All series.<\/p>\n

Juxtapose that style with McBride\u2019s, and you can better understand why the offense has run better with Bridges, the bigger-name player and still a starter, on the bench. McBride laid eight ball screens for Brunson in the second half of Game 3, when the Knicks came back from down 18 points to inspire a close but ultimately unsuccessful finish. He set seven more in Game 4.<\/p>\n

The small-small pick-and-roll has become a reliable weapon for the Knicks in a way it wasn\u2019t with Bridges out there. And so, he continues to sit, which isn\u2019t surprising. That it became so extreme so quickly is the shocker.<\/p>\n

Who is your X-factor for Games 5, 6 and (potentially) 7?<\/h2>\n

Edwards:<\/strong> It\u2019s McBride for me. I would go with OG Anunoby because he\u2019s playing tremendously, but he\u2019s too good to be considered an X-factor.<\/p>\n

Until further notice, Brown is going to play McBride as much or more than Bridges, with hopes of getting consistent shooting, secondary ballhandling and feisty defense.<\/p>\n

McBride takes a lot of high-variance shots, and while he\u2019s made them over the last two games, what happens when\/if the 3-ball isn\u2019t falling? Can he defend McCollum or whomever consistently without fouling? Can he avoid the live-ball turnovers that he had in the Game 2 and Game 3 losses?<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

It\u2019s a lot to ask of someone not that far removed from hernia surgery, but Brown is putting a lot on McBride\u2019s plate. And because no one knows what to expect from Bridges on a game-to-game basis, the Knicks need McBride to provide stability alongside Brunson.<\/p>\n

Katz:<\/strong> Mitchell Robinson.<\/p>\n

Robinson has barely played over the first four games, only 59 minutes total. And Brown has explained why.<\/p>\n

For the 7-footer to crest above that number, he and Towns would have to play next to each other. But the Hawks start with an undersized center (Onyeka Okongwu) and four perimeter players, which doesn\u2019t lend itself to friendly defensive matchups, he has said. Surely, the Hawks\u2019 willingness to foul Robinson intentionally, sending a line-drive free-throw shooter to the stripe, has played into his limited playing time, too.<\/p>\n

Yet, Robinson is an essential contributor, a defensive anchor and rebound fiend. In many ways, the smaller Hawks are an ideal matchup for him. He performed well against them during the regular season. He gobbled up five offensive rebounds in only 15 minutes during Game 4\u2019s win.<\/p>\n

Brown has placed both Robinson and Towns on smalls in other contexts. Both of them have guarded Daniels \u2014 a guard who operates more like a center on offense, constantly screening and cutting to the hoop \u2014 at different points. Both have taken Okongwu, too. But Brown would have to rejigger how early Robinson enters games, maybe to an impossible fashion, to make sure he and Towns are out there at the same time as Daniels and a center.<\/p>\n

Even if Robinson continues to not play much, he can swing a game with his work on the glass or a key block.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s anyone\u2019s series now. With the New York Knicks and Atlanta Hawks\u2019 Eastern Conference first-round bout tied at two games a piece and with Game 5 scheduled for Tuesday, James L. Edwards III and Fred Katz got together to break down what has been a chaotic four games. What Knicks-related storyline are you paying attention […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,241],"class_list":["post-1904821","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-nytimes-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1904821","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1904821"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1904821\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1904821"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1904821"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1904821"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}