![\"Jan](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/fcfe6b70ce6044fc6b18929e551b8d15.jpeg\"\/)
<\/p>\nWith Game 1 of Knicks-Hawks coming up on Saturday, an Eastern Conference scout shares three things to watch during the series:<\/p>\n
SLOWING ATLANTA IN TRANSITION<\/p>\n
“They have been really good getting out on the break. Jalen (Johnson) is such a great rebounder and he gets it and goes. New York\u2019s transition defense has been okay lately. But Jalen will put a lot of pressure on them. You (have to) pay attention to (Nickeil Alexander-Walker). He\u2019s great in transition. (Jonathan) Kuminga can hurt you. Atlanta doesn\u2019t need a turnover to get going \u2013 that\u2019s what makes them so tough. It\u2019s a rebound from Johnson and they are off. And they have multiple guys who can (push the ball off of a rebound). Even if you get back, their flow and the screening in their half court offense is tricky.<\/p>\n
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“Maybe the Knicks give up something on the offensive glass and keep some people back to slow the Hawks. This, to me, is where the Knicks can get into trouble if they don\u2019t execute.\u201d<\/p>\n
HAWKS VS. KAT<\/p>\n
“So many teams have put a wing on (Karl-Anthony Towns) and put a center on (Josh) Hart. That\u2019s obviously worked for some of (those teams). I don\u2019t know if the Hawks will do that. I can\u2019t see (Jalen Johnson) defending KAT. Maybe there is another wing who can do it? It\u2019s one of the biggest factors, to me.\u00a0If Atlanta defends Towns with (Onyeka Okongwu), I think that\u2019s a potential series-killer for them. When a big (is guarding Towns) it just opens up so much for the Knicks.<\/p>\n
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Jan 27, 2026; New York, New York, USA; New York Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns (32) reacts during the fourth quarter against the Sacramento Kings at Madison Square Garden. \/ Brad Penner – Imagn Images<\/p>\n
“The (Jalen Brunson-Towns two-man action) was strong the (last time the Knicks played Atlanta, which was a road win). Putting (Okongwu) on KAT gives them a chance to really get (the Towns-Brunson action) going. Tough call for Quin (Snyder) and the group.”<\/p>\n
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DEFENDING BRUNSON<\/p>\n
“The results have been up and down, but I like (Dyson) Daniels on Brunson. If they try to get Daniels off of him with a screen, the Hawks have other (versatile defenders) who can step in. You know Brunson is going to get to his spots but you want to make him work for everything and play him physical without fouling. Not an easy (job), but I\u2019d take Daniels over just about anybody.<\/p>\n
“On the other end, does (Brunson) guard CJ (McCollum)? Can Atlanta create mismatches by screening (and forcing Brunson to switch who he is defending)? That\u2019s obviously what they want to do. But (Brunson) is tough and doesn\u2019t die (on screens). That\u2019s another (part of the) chess match I\u2019m keeping an eye on.”<\/p>\n
PREDICTION<\/p>\n
“I love Atlanta but I think the atmosphere at the Garden could be tough for them and I think they\u2019ll struggle with Towns (and Mitchell Robinson). I don\u2019t think this is going longer than six (games), so I\u2019ll take Knicks in six.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With Game 1 of Knicks-Hawks coming up on Saturday, an Eastern Conference scout shares three things to watch…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":610851,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[4131,64,63,16118,62596,12836,20449,12845,20440,16104,590,12846,115194,5674,85,34326],"class_list":{"0":"post-610850","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-atlanta","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-hawks","12":"tag-jalen","13":"tag-jalen-johnson","14":"tag-karl-anthony-towns","15":"tag-knicks","16":"tag-kuminga","17":"tag-mitchell-robinson","18":"tag-nba","19":"tag-nickeil-alexander-walker","20":"tag-onyeka-okongwu","21":"tag-sacramento-kings","22":"tag-sports","23":"tag-the-hawks"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610850","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=610850"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610850\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/610851"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=610850"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=610850"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=610850"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}