Karl-Anthony Towns knows the Knicks need to play their best basketball to beat the Atlanta Hawks.
The regular season has come and passed and now the New York Knicks are looking ahead to round one of the playoffs, where they'll face the Atlanta Hawks, who won five of their last eight games of the regular season to storm ahead into the playoffs.
The Knicks are 2-1 in the regular season against the Hawks and on paper they should have the more talented team, but that talent still needs to show up in the series and has been proven time and time again, anything can happen in the playoffs.
That's why the Knicks can't afford to give up any kind of slack to the Hawks, lest the fast pace of Atlanta's offense finds an opportunity to run away with the series.
New York Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns (32) goes to the basket as Toronto Raptors center Jakob Poeltl (19) defends during the second half at Madison Square Garden. Vincent Carchietta-Imagn ImagesThe Knicks have done plenty of things right this season, from their aggression on offense, to physicality, to a put-together defensive effort. But, their flaw throughout the season has been their inability to put all of those positives together in the same game.
Putting It All Together
When they have been able to play a complete game, few teams have looked better, and that's exactly what they'll need to do to go far in the playoffs.
"We've expected ourselves to needing to be the best. We just have to continue to use those 1%s every game in the regular season to be the team we want to be at this time," Karl-Anthony Towns said (via SNY_Knicks).
That kind of awareness of their faults is something that bodes well for the Knicks, but awareness only goes so far. The Knicks will need to be prepared for a relentless offensive effort from Atlanta, who averaged 118.5 points per game this season while shooting 37.1% from three.
New York Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns (32) celebrates with New York Knicks guard Josh Hart (3) after Hart hit a three pointer late in the fourth quarter against the Boston Celtics at Madison Square Garden. Lucas Boland-Imagn ImagesLocking The Hawks Down
The Knicks have enough offensive firepower of their own to at least try and outscore the Hawks, but winning via shootout isn't a surefire way of achieving success, especially not over the course of a multi-game series.
To truly have an advantage, the Knicks will need to use the defense that made them one of the best defensive teams by rating in the NBA. They'll obviously have to control the perimeter and take away Atlanta's three point shot, forcing them inside where Towns can go to work.
New York Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns (32) goes to the basket during the second half against the Toronto Raptors at Madison Square Garden. Vincent Carchietta-Imagn ImagesThe playoffs are the test of everything that a team has to offer and while the Knicks do have a lot to offer, they'll need to bring all of it to the table to be able to stop the Hawks in their tracks.