- 2 days ago
The Hawks pulled a rabbit out of their hat to win Game 2 in Madison Square Garden over the Knicks in the NBA Playoffs, giving themselves home court advantage in what is ostensibly now a best-of-5 series that returns to Atlanta on Thursday. Hawks announcer and our own Mike Conti joined the midday show to talk about the win.
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00:00But Mike Conte joins us at this time on Tuesdays, as always, and good morning to talk with Mike
00:06after the Hawks get a really fun win last night in Game 2 against the Knicks.
00:10How are you?
00:11I'm good.
00:11I didn't think they would do it, honestly.
00:13I mean, when they were down by 8 and they called that timeout with about 5 minutes to play,
00:17I thought, okay, I've got the stat ready to go, and it's not going to give me a lot of
00:22pleasure to share it.
00:23But the Hawks have been in an 0-2 series all 26 times in their history
00:27and have come back a grand total of zero times.
00:30So I'm glad now that stat is irrelevant because I still think the Hawks would have been in decent shape
00:35coming back 0-2.
00:37I don't think the Knicks have been very good in this series at all.
00:40The Knicks, frankly, choked last night, I thought.
00:42Credit to the Hawks for the defensive job they did in the fourth quarter.
00:46But the Knicks are getting everything they want out of this series.
00:50The Hawks only took 81 shots last night.
00:52That is exactly the pace the Knicks want this to be at.
00:55They just choked.
00:57They went 4 1⁄2 minutes without a basket in the final 5 minutes of the game last night.
01:02So I think both teams are probably feeling pretty good about where they are right now.
01:09The Hawks certainly feel good because they've got a split in New York with Nikhil and Jalen
01:13not giving them everything they need to get.
01:16The Knicks, though, probably have to feel, you know what?
01:19This series is being played at our tempo and in our style right now.
01:25Hawks have tried to make some adjustments, some personnel adjustments.
01:29It didn't do anything to change the tempo at which that game was played last night.
01:33The Hawks just locked down defensively in the fourth quarter.
01:36They made shots in the fourth quarter.
01:38The Knicks did not.
01:39We're on to game three.
01:39What do you think about the adjustments that Coach Quinn made in the second quarter with
01:44playing more bench guys and then also in the fourth quarter by kind of going small?
01:47Yeah, smart, I think, really threw off the Knicks going small in the fourth quarter.
01:52You know, the Hawks shot 72% in the fourth quarter.
01:55The Knicks shot 23%.
01:56Okay.
01:57So huge, very successfully made adjustment there.
02:01As far as how he deployed the bench, you know, Kispert came in.
02:04Tony Bradley came in.
02:06I think a lot of that was just thrown into chaos when Mo Gay went up for that dunk
02:11and landed on his hip.
02:12And I think at that point you're scrambling a little bit.
02:17I don't want to make this too big a thing, but I think it was notable one bench guy
02:20who did not get in last night.
02:22And that's a discussion that we'll probably have when the season is over.
02:26But I think now it is crystal clear that Zachary Reza Shea is not going to play
02:30in this series.
02:31I think he got his moment, his chance on Monday, and, you know, it didn't work out.
02:37But that's kind of irrelevant at this point right now.
02:40Good adjustments, long story short.
02:42And, look, if you look at the bench guys and their plus minuses last night,
02:47even Tony Bradley, if you look at their plus minuses from last night,
02:50they really gave you a good shift.
02:53Kaminga was excellent last night.
02:55That's the Kaminga we've been hoping for.
02:57And hopefully we'll see it consistently now as this series goes on.
03:01But I do think Quinn Snyder deserves a lot of credit for having to get creative
03:05on the fly because, you know, Coglu's got the knee inflammation,
03:08you're without Landale, and now you see Mo Gay go down and you have to scramble.
03:13And he got really creative and did a good job with it.
03:16We talked quite a bit leading into the playoffs about the style that the Hawks
03:20had been playing with that had been effective in winning them games
03:23and then what it would look like, especially if you're playing against a team
03:25like the Knicks that wants to slow it down, like what Dyson Daniels' role
03:29offensively would look like and if he could be effective in the half court
03:32and all that.
03:32And obviously thus far through two games, not so much.
03:35In terms of scoring.
03:36In terms of scoring and just sort of what he's been doing,
03:39like sort of the facilitating.
03:41How can they get the game played at the speed that they'd like it to be played at
03:47in order to have him be more effective?
03:49But I think it's the same thing with Jalen and some of these other guys.
03:51I mean, they're so much better when they're out and running.
03:54Yeah.
03:54Well, you know, I think one thing they did really well in Game 1 that I did not see
03:59them doing quite as much in Game 2 was getting out in transition off makes.
04:04I would like to see more of that.
04:06I think, you know, the rebounding has been a factor in this series in favor of the Knicks,
04:12but it hasn't been a dramatic disadvantage.
04:16The Knicks did a better job last night of taking care of the ball,
04:21which, again, is going to prevent the Hawks from getting out in transition off turnovers.
04:27So if you can't manufacture the turnovers, I want to see them running more off makes.
04:33It was also kind of a weird second half and especially fourth quarter because it got really tight
04:41and you're maximizing every possession at that point.
04:46You've got to be very, very careful on every possession.
04:49And, you know, perhaps that takes some of that transition thought out of it because now,
04:55you know, you're trying to slow the game down and you're trying to grind the game towards
05:00maybe having a shot or two to win at the end.
05:03So I don't want to overanalyze that too much, but I think playing at home will give the Hawks
05:10an opportunity now to maybe impose their will a little bit more as far as getting out in transition
05:15and playing faster, but it's going to come down to being more disruptive and creating more turnovers.
05:21I still think the magic number in this series is 25 points off turnovers for the Hawks.
05:27If they are at or above that, they're going to win, you know, because that tells you not only
05:32have they been disruptive defensively, but they are getting out in transition and they're converting
05:37those turnovers into either layups or three-pointers.
05:41What do you think of, what do you think when we talk about the two guys, we talk about Nall,
05:45we talk about Jalen, is it Nall just missing shots and Jalen is indecisive?
05:49I don't know about indecisive on Jalen.
05:50Let's put Jalen off to the side for a second.
05:52I think Nall is just missing.
05:53Missing shots, okay.
05:54I think he's just missing.
05:55And I tweeted this last night.
05:56The fact that he's 9 for 29 in the series and the Hawks got a split is a great sign
06:04for the Hawks.
06:05That is a great sign that, you know, he was way, way below his standard in terms of production
06:13and you still got to sweep out of this.
06:15He's going to come good.
06:16He's too good a player.
06:17So I think that's a great sign for the Hawks.
06:19Jalen, I don't know.
06:22I mean, the Knicks have clearly focused on him.
06:25I thought they had him locked up in the first half last night.
06:29I don't think it was Jalen being tentative or indecisive or whatever.
06:34And I even saw some tweets, oh, you know, he's playing scared.
06:37I didn't feel that at all.
06:38I think the Knicks just had him locked up and that happens.
06:43And, you know, there was a lot of, there have been, excuse me,
06:47a lot of looks that Jalen has gotten in these last three games against the Knicks
06:52and include the regular season game they played a couple weeks ago
06:54that he was not getting much this year.
06:57You know, now he's getting them and he's got to find a way to play out of these
07:02as he did in the second half.
07:04You know, he didn't have a turnover in the second half.
07:07He had 13 points in the second half.
07:08The game-clinching basket was a transition leak out off a turnover.
07:13And that's the other thing.
07:14This, again, goes back to creating turnovers and getting out in transition
07:18where Jalen is very, very strong.
07:19The Hawks, unfortunately, and good that they've earned a split in this series,
07:23but unfortunately they just have not been able to get out in transition off steals.
07:28I think that will help open up Jalen a lot.
07:30But the one thing, you know, we talk about this a lot as we do games at home,
07:35and it's me and Steve and it's the commissioner, Gordon,
07:38who I think makes really, really great observations.
07:40Gordon Robertson, our on-site engineer, he's at Twin Peaks a lot,
07:45and he engineers our Hawks games on site.
07:46And Gordon and I have talked about when Jalen plays angry,
07:51I think he plays better.
07:54In a way, that thing with Mitchell Robinson and Dyson last night,
07:57I almost kind of wish that would have happened to Jalen
07:59because I think it would have gotten him ticked off.
08:01And I think we see him play at a different level when he's angry.
08:04So just got to do something to, you know, elevate that emotion and that energy.
08:09May you factor some anger.
08:10Yeah, yeah, yeah.
08:11Harder to do maybe at home than on the road.
08:14But I'm not all that worried about Jalen Johnson.
08:16I think he has finished both games of this series strongly.
08:21Hopefully that momentum carries over to Game 3, and we'll see.
08:23Yeah, I'm not super worried about it.
08:26Like, I think they had a good game plan against him last night,
08:28and they have good defenders, and they executed it.
08:31He's also playing in his first two playoff games on the road and looked like it.
08:35Yeah.
08:35I mean, comes home on Thursday.
08:37Now, if he looks like it on Thursday, then maybe we'll have a similar conversation
08:40because it's going to be hard for the Hawks to win the series if he and Nikhil
08:45continue to play like this.
08:46But I don't think that they will continue to play like this.
08:49Conversely, if CJ plays like this, then you can make up for some stuff.
08:53Do you buy the CJ McCollum, the villain, that they're trying to sell us on?
08:59You know what my initial thought was?
09:03Man, why does this always seem to happen to the Knicks and at Madison Square Garden?
09:09Because they ask for it.
09:10Oh, my goodness.
09:11It is just – that is their franchise DNA.
09:15I want to know because –
09:18They always blow it.
09:20Have we not seen a video of – because remember after the game,
09:23they always had the guy with the microphone outside with the Knicks fans
09:25when they win game one?
09:26Yeah, yeah, yeah.
09:27Was that guy out there this year where they beat the Hawks the other day?
09:29Yeah, probably.
09:30Did you see what they were chanting yesterday?
09:32Well, they were chanting about Trey Young.
09:34No, no, after the game.
09:35What?
09:36A whole crowd of them, probably drunk.
09:39Knicks in five.
09:40Knicks in five.
09:42Well, well.
09:44Yeah, good luck with that.
09:46If that happens, then we're having a really weird conversation next Tuesday
09:51because the Hawks will have really kind of blown it.
09:54But going back to CJ and the whole villain thing,
09:56I don't know if you can be a villain if you're like 11th or 12th on the list at this
10:02point.
10:02I mean, you've got Reggie Miller, you've got Tyrese Halliburton, you've got Trey Young.
10:05Yeah, like everybody who plays good against you in the series can't just be a villain.
10:08Yeah, you don't automatically ascend to villain status like that.
10:12Now look, in all seriousness, CJ's done a really good job.
10:16He is having a heck of a season.
10:19Yeah.
10:20And I sat here with you guys eight weeks ago and said,
10:23you don't trade Trey Young for CJ McCollum with any thought in mind to get better this year.
10:28Boy, did I get that wrong.
10:31I got that totally wrong.
10:33We thought that CJ was a buyout guy.
10:34We thought he was a buyout guy.
10:36And that's the things about teams in the playoffs right now.
10:39You think these other, well, obviously the Hawks are using them,
10:42but these other teams that need a guy like CJ?
10:45It's like, dang, we could have had that guy.
10:47I'll tell you what.
10:49He's got the absolute right combination of veteran experience and recklessness.
10:56Yeah.
10:56Like the exact right combination.
10:58He's not young, reckless, like Dennis Schroeder was.
11:02Okay.
11:03He's not overly experienced and cautious like we've seen with some players.
11:08Like he's got just the right mix where he has zero problem with taking any shot at any time.
11:16Right.
11:16But he's also got the veteran experience to play with just enough control and also to make it work in
11:23the team situation where he's helping to connect the team.
11:26So, boy, Ansi Saleh, if you look at the acquisitions that he has made just this year and what they
11:32did last night between CJ, Gabe Vincent, who didn't score a lot, but gave you really, really important minutes off
11:41the bench.
11:41Josh Kaminga, who I think arguably had his best game as a Hawke.
11:45No doubt.
11:46I mean, he had some big nights against tank teams.
11:49This was by far the most impactful game he's had as a Hawke.
11:53If you look at what Ansi has brought in just in the last, you know, 12 weeks and what they
12:00did last night, man, that is a tip of the cap and really, really savvy moves that on the surface
12:06to me didn't feel like they were going to make you competitive this year.
12:10But he knew a lot more than I did.
12:13That's for sure.
12:13Yeah.
12:13Front office won the game last night.
12:15CJ was the best player offensively.
12:17Kaminga was the best player overall.
12:19Yes.
12:19But those guys were added to the trade deadline.
12:21Right.
12:21You lose the game by 20 points last night if those two guys aren't on the floor.
12:24Well, and I'll give you another.
12:26Like, Tony Bradley and, you know, whatever.
12:29Outside of the shot.
12:30Yeah.
12:30Forget that.
12:31He was plus 12.
12:32Yes.
12:32That's enormous.
12:33Like, when your bench can come in and give you plus minutes like that, regardless of what they're producing offensively,
12:39that's enormous.
12:39So that's another one.
12:42So, yeah.
12:42The front office deserves a real tip of the cap.
12:45Now you hope that they finish the series off.
12:47But they're in the driver's seat now with the home court advantage.
12:50If they win these next two.
12:52And by the way, you could feel it over the radio.
12:58I'm sitting listening to Steve.
13:00And you could feel it.
13:01When the lead got down to four.
13:03You are feeling and hearing those murmurs.
13:07Yes.
13:08And that crowd, as bravado as they are in Knicks and five, they got really panicky.
13:14Really panicky.
13:15When the Hawks cut the lead from eight down to four.
13:17There was still plenty of time left to go in that game.
13:19The Hawks are not going to have that problem Thursday and Saturday here in Atlanta.
13:24That's going to be crazy.
13:24Not going to have that problem.
13:25You know what?
13:25All the Knicks fans in attendance might be murmuring again and uneasy again if things
13:30get tight late.
13:31But all the pressure is on the Knicks right now in this series.
13:34And they are playing like the pressure is on them.
13:37Let the Hawks play Thursday night in the style that they like to play in.
13:43They're going to beat the Knicks by 10.
13:45Yeah.
13:45And the Knicks are going to be real, real.
13:48They're already having conversations about what's going to happen in the offseason after
13:51one loss.
13:51Let me tell you.
13:52A one-point loss.
13:52I did not hear this.
13:53I just heard about it.
13:54If Mike Brown was complaining about calls after the game last night.
13:58Get out of here.
13:58Get out of here.
13:59But that says a lot about what they are feeling and the nerves of the pressure right now.
14:05So we talked about before the series started.
14:06Get out of here.
14:07The owner's putting pressure on them.
14:08The two best players don't like each other.
14:11A loss like that last night where they had every statistical advantage in the game.
14:16Yes.
14:16They should have won the game.
14:18Absolutely should have won that game.
14:19That's the type of loss that reverberates.
14:21Absolutely.
14:21And you think the New York media is going soft on them today?
14:25No.
14:25Heck no.
14:26That's great.
14:26So great.
14:27There's nothing.
14:28There's really almost like really nothing better than the Knicks doing this in the playoffs.
14:32I hope the Hawks keep doing it to them.
14:34All right.
14:34Thank you, Mike.
14:35We'll come back.
14:35We'll get to an NFL no huddle.
14:37Kick off the noon hour.
14:37Sports Radio 92.
14:38Nine the game.
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