The New York Knicks defeat the Atlanta Hawks, 114-98, to tie the series 2-2. <\/p>\n
\u2022\u00a0Download the NBA App<\/a><\/p>\n ATLANTA \u2013 The New York Knicks finally discovered a method to not to get beat by a point in this first-round playoff series, which happened twice, and here\u2019s what they did:<\/p>\n Make sure the next game didn\u2019t come down to that.<\/p>\n The formula Saturday was this: Build a lead primarily with defense, let Karl-Anthony Towns cook early, apply more defense in the second half and just to be safe, keep the starters on the floor with four minutes left while up 20-plus points.<\/p>\n Hey, it worked to perfection.<\/p>\n And because of that, the Knicks and Atlanta Hawks are now tied at two games each with the series heading back to Madison Square Garden.<\/p>\n The Knicks were just too much for the Hawks in Game 4 and never allowed suspense to enter State Farm Arena. New York is, after all, the higher seed and bringing more overall playoff experience, for whatever that\u2019s worth. So in that regard, logic prevailed in their favor, and now perhaps momentum is in their favor as well.<\/p>\n \u201cI thought we came out with great tenacity,\u201d said Towns, who also mentioned \u201cdesperation\u201d to describe the state of the Knicks entering the game.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it is the proper word,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Here are the takeaways from the Knicks\u2019 rather convincing 16-point Game 4 romp:<\/p>\n 1. Towns comes up big<\/p>\n He has a decided advantage in this series because his credentials outweigh all the Hawks\u2019 big men put together. Atlanta\u2019s biggest weakness is in the paint; the Hawks lack an imposing power player at both ends of the floor.<\/p>\n The Knicks spotted this obvious edge and exploited it in Game 1 when Towns scored 25 points with 10 of those coming from the free throw line. He posted up and drew fouls and flexed his skills, and this had danger signs flashing for the Hawks.<\/p>\n Yet for some reason, the Knicks went away from this strategy over the next two games, both losses, and it cost them.<\/p>\n Well, if nothing else they boomeranged back Saturday. They went to Towns early and often and Towns parked himself down low and once again made a statement.<\/p>\n \u201cWe just wanted to try and find different ways to get KAT the ball,\u201d said Knicks coach Mike Brown. \u201cHe had a couple of post-ups, try to move him around so he could get a few more touches through the course of the game.\u201d<\/p>\n He finished with his first triple-double in his playoff history by morphing into a playmaker, especially from the high post, where he spotted teammates.<\/p>\n \u201cOpportunities presented themselves and my teammates made it happen,\u201d he said about his 10 assists. \u201cThey made great cuts.\u201d<\/p>\n Yet what spoke loudest was his rebounds (10) and his presence inside the 3-point arc. Five of his six buckets were from the paint, and once again he took frequent trips to the free throw line (nine attempts) by drawing contact.<\/p>\n \u201cA special talent,\u201d said OG Anunoby. \u201cHe can do it all.\u201d<\/p>\n 2. OG was masterful offensively, defensively<\/p>\n This was a complete effort by Anunoby, who helped clamp Hawks leading scorer Jalen Johnson while giving Atlanta fits on the other end. He had the highest plus-minus of the game at 19, proof of his value. From baseline to baseline nobody was more impactful than the Knicks forward, a major reason why this series is tied.<\/p>\n Anunoby is a proven defender who takes special pride in what he\u2019s capable of doing and who he\u2019s doing it against. He\u2019s usually tasked with the toughest assignments on a nighty basis, and wouldn\u2019t have it any other way.<\/p>\n But, offensively? He led the Knicks with 22 points (along with 10 rebounds) and put a handful of responses by the Hawks on ice with timely 3-point shots.<\/p>\n And how\u2019s this for efficiency: He played 40 minutes with just one turnover.<\/p>\n 3. The Hawks are looking for more from their Jalen<\/p>\n It\u2019s hard these days to be first team All-Jalen in the NBA because it\u2019s suddenly such a popular name among very good players. Take this series for example \u2014 Brunson and Johnson, on opposite sides, All-Stars this season, opponents at the moment.<\/p>\n Much like Brunson, Johnson is suddenly the face of the franchise, a spot which became vacant once it was apparent he was more of a building block than the since-departed Trae Young.<\/p>\n The intrigue is this: This is Johnson\u2019s first taste of the playoffs as his team\u2019s featured player and the results so far are mixed. He\u2019s still looking to put his stamp on the series \u2014 the Hawks have called CJ McCollum\u2019s number when times have been tight \u2014 and Saturday was more of a mild response by Johnson.<\/p>\n He never established a rhythm or struck fear into the Knicks. Or maybe the Knicks are actually giving him the ultimate sign of respect by constantly hounding him and making him their defensive priority.<\/p>\n Anyway: Johnson shot 4-for-12 for 14 points in Game 4, quite a change from his breakout regular season. Not only did the Knicks pressure him into tough shots, they also cut off his passing lanes, which was important; Johnson was among the league\u2019s better passing forwards this season.<\/p>\n The biggest adjustment prior to Game 5 for the Hawks is to find a way to establish Johnson, much like the Knicks did with Towns for Game 4, because at times in this series he has appeared too timid.<\/p>\n 4. Josh brought a lot of heart<\/p>\n The Knicks got their defensive energy from Josh Hart, who much like Anunoby made plays that not only prevented the Hawks from scoring, but put the Knicks into a nice transition game where they generated easy buckets on the break.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen he gets locked in, he\u2019s locked in,\u201d said Brown. \u201cHis defensive activity, especially when it comes to ball pressure, was fabulous tonight \u2026 and we needed every ounce of it.\u201d<\/p>\n Hawks coach Quin Snyder said \u201cJosh Hart was out there guarding everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n Hart mainly wanted to silence the Hawks\u2019 biggest threats and mostly succeeded Saturday. McCollum has given the Knicks fits all series but, with the exception of a few flourishes, was harmless in Game 4. Hart also helped on Johnson, using his pressure to force those Hawks players into uncomfortable situations.<\/p>\n \u201cOur intensity,\u201d is what Anunoby said was the difference in the latest from Knicks. \u201cWe came out, we were physical from the start. We got stops and it was the energy we brought.\u201d<\/p>\n The Hawks shot just 41% overall and just as important, were held to 24% from deep. They had just 44 points at halftime and 65 after three quarters, when the Knicks were well in control.<\/p>\n \u201cWe put ourselves in this position,\u201d Hart said. \u201cWe were ready to answer back.\u201d<\/p>\n * * *<\/p>\n Shaun Powell has covered the NBA since 1985. You can e-mail him at\u00a0spowell@nba.com<\/a>, find\u00a0his archive here<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0follow him on\u00a0X<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The New York Knicks defeat the Atlanta Hawks, 114-98, to tie the series 2-2. \u2022\u00a0Download the NBA App…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":631768,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,305972,590,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-631767","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-knicks-hawks-game-4","11":"tag-nba","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/631767","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=631767"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/631767\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/631768"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=631767"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=631767"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=631767"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}