Blake Krass breaks down the upcoming first-round NBA Playoffs series between the New York Knicks and the Atlanta Hawks.
The NBA Playoffs are here! One of the most exciting opening round series is a battle between the 3-seeded New York Knicks and the 6-seeded Atlanta Hawks. The Knicks are trying to finally get over the hump and get to the NBA Finals this season. However, the Hawks have been a thorn in the Knicks’ side over the past few years. While Trae Young, the main rival of the New York crowd, isn’t around anymore, Knicks fans would love to take down Atlanta in this series.
The Knicks are -290 to win the series, while the Hawks are +230 underdogs on DraftKings Sportsbook.
It has been a great season for the New York Knicks. They have been in this third position in the Eastern Conference for most of the season. The Pistons have been the clear best team in the conference, but the Knicks have been firmly in that second tier with the Celtics and Cavaliers. New York won’t be complacent with just winning this series, or even making it to the Eastern Conference Finals, however. This Knicks team has had multiple chances to get to the NBA Finals since Jalen Brunson arrived, but this might be their best opportunity yet.
The Knicks have one of the best scorers in the league with Brunson. They also have great defensive players like OG Anunoby, Mikal Bridges and Mitchell Robinson. However, the X-factor this postseason could be Karl-Anthony Towns. Towns is supremely talented but can also be a liability at times defensively. If Towns is at his best, that could be what pushes New York to the next level.
It has been a strange season for the Hawks. They traded their franchise player, Trae Young, and decided to start building the team around their young stars like Jalen Johnson, Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Onyeka Okongwu. It seemed like the Hawks were just punting on this season, but following that trade, the Hawks went 28-15 to launch themselves into this 6-seed spot. That is partially due to the great play of CJ McCollum since coming to Atlanta, in addition to the aforementioned trio of younger players. Johnson in particular has proven himself to be a superstar, leading the Hawks in points, rebounds and assists this season. Johnson is likely to be an All-NBA honoree this season, and he will need to be at his best for the Hawks to win this series.
My best bet for this series is for the Knicks to cover the spread of 1.5 games over the Hawks. While the Hawks have been great since the Trae Young trade, the Knicks are on another level. New York has the best player in the series, Jalen Brunson. While Jalen Johnson might be the second-best player in the series, the Knicks might have the three next-best players after that: Karl-Anthony Towns, OG Anunoby and Mikal Bridges. This group also has much more postseason experience. For many of these young Hawks players, this will be their first big postseason series. Atlanta has been knocked out in the Play-In Tournament each of the past two seasons. Without Young, there is nobody in this group who knows how to win a playoff series.
Meanwhile, the Knicks have now made it out of the first round each of the past three seasons, including last year’s trip to the conference finals. Atlanta has enough young talent to steal a game or two in the series, but the Knicks should be able to win the series in four or five games. They have more depth, more experience and the home-court advantage. The Knicks are 2-1 against the Hawks this season, and in the lone loss, both Towns and Mitchell Robinson were out, leaving the Knicks incredibly shorthanded in the frontcourt.
A big part of the reason I’m betting on the Knicks to win this series in six games or fewer is that they should win every game at home. These two bets are obviously correlated. If the Knicks go undefeated at home, they just need to steal one game in Atlanta to cover the game spread for the series. New York has been sensational at Madison Square Garden this season. The Knicks went 30-10 at The Mecca this season, the fourth-best home record in the NBA this season. The crowd should be incredible for this postseason run, but the players are also clearly more comfortable playing in New York. At plus-money, I’ll back the Knicks to dominate at Madison Square Garden during this series.
Game 1 of the Knicks vs. Hawks series will take place on Saturday, April 18th at 6 p.m. ET.
Game 1 will be held at Madison Square Garden, as the Knicks hold the home-court advantage in the series.
This is a Best-Of-Seven series between the Knicks and Hawks. The first team to win four games will move on to the Eastern Conference semifinals.
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