Tyrese Haliburton channels the 2025 Pacers, predicting a surprising playoff run for the red-hot Hawks against the Knicks.
The Atlanta Hawks are ready to take on the New York Knicks in the first round of the NBA playoffs. Game one is set for 6:00 p.m. at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Both sides come in with no major injuries, and the Hawks' story is very well known to this point.
Atlanta caught fire in February and March, as well as the early portion of April, to earn itself a playoff series, which is almost exceeding expectations from January, when the Hawks could not escape the 10th seed spot in the East. However, they made several notable trades, won 12 straight games, and completely turned things around in their home building.
Recently, NBA All-Star Tyrese Haliburton made a bold prediction about the Atlanta Hawks during an interview on a sports radio show, saying the Hawks can be this year's version of the 2025 Indiana Pacers, who shockingly advanced to the NBA Finals:
When asked about who could be a surprise team during this year's NBA playoffs, Haliburton had this to say:
"I would probably say Atlanta just for the fact that after making the trades, especially since the All-Star break, they've been hot, and that's where we were [talking about his Pacers team], we got really hot, and we were like second-best record in the NBA after OKC after January."
Haliburton then jokingly says he isn't picking Atlanta as a sleeper team because they are playing the Knicks, but regardless, he makes good points about the team catching fire at the right time and being a team nobody wants to play due to their recent hot streak.
Atlanta comes into the series with one semi-major injury, as center Jock Landale is expected to miss the next two weeks, as he battles an ankle injury, and the Knicks have zero names on their injury report ahead of the anticipated series.