The Atlanta Hawks feel like their first-round opponents are taking a page out of the book of the Andrew Bogut-era Golden State Warriors.
After Tuesday’s Game 2 loss to the New York Knicks, Hawks coach Nate McMillan spoke out on what he saw as questionable screens by the Knicks, per Ryan Dunleavy of the New York Post:
“I thought they were setting some screens that need to be looked at. That’s a part of this game. Certainly in the playoffs you have to set screens with [defensive] pressure that teams and guards will be applying, and we have to do a better job of setting screens. But I thought [in Game 2] they set some screens that the league has to look at.”
Hawks big man John Collins also expressed a very similar sentiment:
“The screens that have been made and the elbows that have been flying the first two games are illegal. They are not basketball plays. That’s how I feel. Obviously, the officials have the ability to make their calls and we have to live with that. I wasn’t vulgar or disrespectful in any way when those calls were made. But they are illegal.”
Dunleavy points out one example in Game 2 where Hawks guard Bogdan Bogdanovic got slammed by a Julius Randle screen that led to a basket.
The series, which is now even at 1-1, has already gotten pretty personal. As play now shifts over to Atlanta, the Hawks are looking to balance the scales any way that they can.
More must-reads: