The Hawks attempted to take Mitchell Robinson out of the equation for the Knicks in Game 1 by employing Hack-A-Mitch, intentionally fouling him to send him to the free throw line. After going 1-for-4 from the line, Robinson was pulled from the game after 15 minutes without having recorded a single offensive rebound.
Discussing how he will approach Robinson’s minutes in Monday’s Game 2, Knicks coach Mike Brown said that the team wasn’t overreacting to the strategy.
“We’ll probably just use a normal rotation, and at the end of the day, he’s gonna get an opportunity, and we’re confident that he’ll knock ’em down,” Brown said. “If we need to make a change, we feel confident with Josh [Hart] going and playing the center. Especially the way we’re playing, it allows us to switch the pick and roll and all that other stuff, so we’re okay with them fouling Mitch if that’s what they want to do.”
Robinson’s rim protection and ability to generate extra possessions on the offensive glass have been a huge part of the Knicks’ success over the last few years.
Brown adds that in some ways, the intentional fouling strategy can work in New York’s favor.
“If they want to start fouling him, that’ll get us closer to the bonus, and so that’s the time for us to go back to him,” he said, according to Kristian Winfield of the New York Daily News.
The Knicks had 30 free throw attempts against 19 for the Hawks in Game 1, some of which had to do with Atlanta putting itself into the bonus to send Robinson to the line.
We have more from the Knicks/Hawks series:
- OG Anunoby is available to play for the Knicks on Monday, James L. Edwards III notes (via Twitter). The 6’8″ wing, who came in 10th in Defensive Player of the Year voting, was a crucial part of New York’s Game 1 victory, scoring 18 points in 38 minutes despite missing some time in the second half after twisting his ankle.
- Onyeka Okongwu is available for the Hawks, per Stefan Bondy of the New York Post (Twitter link), after previously being listed as questionable due to knee inflammation. Okongwu was productive in his 37 minutes in Game 1, scoring 19 points and hitting four of his six three-pointers. His presence is a welcome sight for the Hawks, who are thin at the center position as a result of Jock Landale‘s ankle injury.
- Due to the Hawks‘ aforementioned frontcourt depth – or lack thereof – the team turned to Mouhamed Gueye as their primary backup center behind Okongwu in Game 1, and he managed to hold his own, Lauren Williams writes for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. While Gueye didn’t put up impressive box score numbers, he didn’t allow Karl-Anthony Towns to bully him down low. With Okongwu dealing with knee inflammation, the Hawks may need Gueye to play more than the 10.5 minutes he saw on Saturday, Williams observes.
Hawks not going away. Man I tell you. You Gotta love Josh. Every team should have a Josh Hart. He’s handling JJ and he’s smaller.
No way Kuminga can handle Towns. Go Shaq on him.
Knick D baby —- lets do this.
OMG the Warrior reject is playing lols.
For all this talk about a new offense. New coach. Still Brunson running iso when they need a basket lols.
Here cones “Big Body Brunson” TripleB.
Where are ALL the Warriors fans. You see your future NOW. MSG brings out best in everyone.
Alexander has done that three times to Brunson. You think he’d learn. Just crazy if all you can do is look for Brunson. Terrible coaching
CJ an 80% FT shooter misses both. And Knicks not ready for it. Knicks not goi g anywhere. With just the Brunson show. Towns should have dominated this game. I hope he’s gone next year. Brown also b ch up.
This Brunson iso only makes it easier for teams to D you up. Towns and Bridges have to be a bigger part of offense. The coach can make that happen.
Just a bad look for a contender. Gave this game away.
Knicks need the rest of the roster to step up for sure. But there is no way that Bridges should have taken that final shot. Out of the starting 5, he would be my last pick to take that shot.
No time out and had to put one up. Never should have come to that. I give Hawks credit. They never gave up.
Stop giving them up, Al. My C’s WANT you guys next round.
But it’s still Knicks in 5 vs ATL. The Hawks are a scrappy bunch, but in terms of talent, shouldn’t be anywhere near the Knicks. Don’t get me wrong, they stole one and they deserve credit, but the series was over before it started.
Series is gonna go 6 games for either side
Not giving up. Just stating facts. If you watched the gm. It shouldn’t have come down to that. The way they play this series. Is a sign of whats coming. I like the to be primed in playoffs. I give Atlanta credit. You still have to manage gms and clise them out. They git one. They earned it.
I did say the Hawks were gonna be trouble for the Knicks.
I still see NY winning the series though.
Funny they blow a lead when Steve Cohen is in the building. It wouldn’t be playoff basketball without the Knicks blowing a playoff game versus a lesser talented team. I still have them in 5 though.
And 5 first rounders for Bridges is hilarious to me.
Coaches who blame their players for losses are losers themselves. After scoring 14 points in the third quarter Brown sat KAT until 7:45 in the fourth quarter. Then he blames KAT for not being aggressive in the fourth quarter. Lame, time will tell on Brown.
The NYK are what they are, and who I warned they were from midseason on. The team has been telling their fans exactly what they are all season, for those that were actually listening. They’re a team of talented playmakers with no identity. Their collective confidence that they can win games by the seat of their pants via end of game playmaking is not an identity, or at least not a positive one. It’s a harbinger of bad habits, including selective effort. For which, Mike Brown is the perfect enabler. He blows off the hard and tedious elements of his job, how credibly upset can he get when the players do the same. Apparently, preparation and urgency are for $uckers. Even I’ll admit, finishing off an opponent with only a puncher’s chance to come back anyway is very boring work. Nevertheless, a real coach would see that it’s put in.
Knicks have the talent to get out the East. What they have to do is play as a team for 48 mins. It can’t be the Brunson show 80% of the time. And the one most responsible for that is coach Brown.
The two players who are the most inconsistent are Towns and Bridges. As both were this game against Hawks. That can easily be remedied by running plays for both of them. Bridges is just not aggressive enough. And it’s getting to point. Where we have to say he doesn’t want it. It’s like he can’t handle failing. This is where coaching has to step in. We gave up too much for him to hide on offense. Towns is just weak minded. He loses focus whenever things don’t go his way. There is no reason why Hawks should give him trouble. He should own this team inside outside. And this coach should also be making sure of that.
These are two biggest issues that have come up too often this year. And we certainly don’t need them coming up in playoffs. Let’s see how they answer this loss.
Kat is the most graceful baby giraffe I have ever seen , thing of beauty watching nature mix w human kind
As an animal lover I think I need a jersey