All of the enthusiasm surrounding the New York Knicks’ chances of advancing out of the first round of the playoffs has slowly dissipated in recent days.
After defeating the Knicks 113-96 on Sunday, the Atlanta Hawks are now ahead 3-1 in the best-of-seven series and seem poised to advance to the second round.
As the momentum in this series has shifted, so has the Hawks’ confidence. They are really feeling themselves now – as evidenced by Clint Capela’s recent commentary on the opposition.
“They’re trying to play tough, push our guys around, talk s---, but we can do that too,” he said.
“We show them as soon as we came back here. We can push guys around too. We can talk s--- as well, so what you going to do about it? And we can get a win with it. So what you going to do about it? Oh, Game 4 you’re coming back again? Well, it’s going to happen again. Win the game.
“We talked s--- and pushed you around, so what are you going to do about it? So that’s what happened. We can do it too. We can be physical, but we can win games as well. Now we’re coming to your home to win this game again. We’ll send you on vacation.”
It’s hard to dispute any of what Capela is saying. To the winners go the spoils, and clearly Atlanta is the winning side at the moment.
Just a few days ago, Derrick Rose went viral for explaining why Trae Young and the Hawks don’t really scare him. As it turns out – maybe they should’ve.
It has been quite a journey for Young so for this season. He went from being called out by Brooklyn Nets coach Steve Nash and having his own teammates badmouth him to being the single biggest driving force behind the Hawks’ electrifying playoff run.
And now he’s one game away from the second round of the playoffs.
Can the Knicks still come back to win the series? Sure. Will they? Probably not.
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