After the group stage came to a close, the quarterfinal matchups for this year’s NBA Cup were set, and one matchup stood out: the Atlanta Hawks vs. the New York Knicks.
Though the Hawks have consistently underwhelmed in the seasons since an inspired run to the Eastern Conference Finals, there is a remaining marker of that team — Trae Young’s personal rivalry with Knicks fans.
Young has captivated the intensity of New York fandom like very few opposition players have this century. In recent years, anti-Trae Young chants have broken out at any event across the city. Young, for his part, plays the heel brilliantly.
The rivalry between New York and Young and the fact that this quarterfinal is set for Madison Square Garden means we can expect great theater even if the Hawks aren’t overly competitive at this stage of the season.
With a trip to Las Vegas and a spot in the semifinals of this year’s NBA Cup on the line at the Mecca in New York City, check out our Hawks vs. Knicks predictions, including our NBA expert picks, with tip set for December 11 at 7:00 p.m. ET.
Matchup Hawks vs Knicks Overview
Teams: Atlanta Hawks vs. New York Knicks
Date: Wednesday, December 11, 2024
Time: 7:00 p.m. ET
Venue: Madison Square Garden
Win Probabilities
The predicting tip for the winner in the game between the Atlanta Hawks and the New York Knicks is the New York Knicks. The winner probabilities are 80.0% (New York Knicks) and 26.67% (Atlanta Hawks).
Projected Final Score
Our predicted final score for this NBA matchup is Knicks 126-109 Hawks.
Expert Prediction: Who Wins?
Though the Atlanta Hawks have enjoyed a handful of small wins and reasons for optimism this season, they have been largely mediocre. Part of that is because, largely, the positives have come down to an individual level, not from a team perspective.
Dyson Daniels, acquired over the summer in the trade of Dejounte Murray to the New Orleans Pelicans, has been a revelation. The third-year wing has taken a massive step forward and has become one of the NBA’s most devastatingly impactful defenders. Though the Australian offense still has a long way to go, he is surely in the Most Improved Player conversation.
Reasons for optimism don’t get any greater than Jalen Johnson. The former Duke Blue Devil has picked up where he left off last year, surging forward as a genuinely impactful two-way NBA player with great size and tremendous athleticism. Johnson is a stalwart in the Most Improved Player conversation and is a season or two away from usurping Trae Young as the Hawks’ most important player.
That’s due in part because Young has been slightly disappointing this year. Though his assist numbers are still sky-high, the notion of Young being able to lead a top-10 offense by himself seems to have died. In theory, Young and center Clint Capela should be able to spam pick-and-roll at a high enough rate to manufacture a competent offense, but that hasn’t been the case.
Atlanta’s a bottom 10 team in adjusted offensive rating and has been sunk by inefficient shooting, with its true shooting percentage hovering around the bottom 10 in the league, too.
The Hawks simply cannot survive without a high-level offense because they don’t have the ability to defend well. There’s too much youth, not enough defensive resistance, and not enough rim protection to see good defense. That is bad news ahead of Wednesday because while Atlanta doesn’t do anything in particular well, its foe, the Knicks, do.
Unsurprisingly, after adding the second-best offensive center in the NBA, Karl-Anthony Towns, the Knicks have seen their offense take a massive leap. With Towns’ gravity and growing chemistry with Jalen Brunson in the two-man game, New York’s offense is atop the league in adjusted offensive rating. The spacing provided has helped everybody in the rotation, with New York’s team’s true shooting percentage in the top three in the league.
While Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau and center Towns were together in Minnesota, Towns helped the Wolves be a guaranteed top-10 offense despite some ugly rosters around him. Flanked by such a talented and deep rotation, that offense has elevated. The notion that everybody eats is coming to fruition, with the top six of Brunson, Towns, Josh Hart, Mikal Bridges, OG Anunoby, and Miles McBride capable of popping off for 20 points in a given night.
The reliability of New York’s offense has been needed because another trait of the Thibs-Towns partnership has shown up. While together in Minnesota, Towns earned a reputation as one of the league’s most damaging defenders because of a terrible schematic fit. Towns is slow-footed, relatively lacking in length, and not a hugely vertical player. Yet, Thibodeau maintained — and again, in New York maintains an obsession with drop coverage.
That drop exploits Towns’ weaknesses and makes his job defending the rim much harder. Some ugly stats have been attributed to Towns defensively this year, and the Knicks have hovered around the bottom 10 in adjusted defensive rating as a team.
That reality is something the Knicks will need to confront and solve as the season progresses if they want to make a deep playoff run. And, being as all-in as they are, they intend to do so. Against a team as middling as the Hawks, however, simply being elite at one end is enough.
Even if the worst version of the Knicks’ defense shows up on Wednesday night, they’re expected to be able to comfortably outscore a Hawks team that is yet to find the chemistry needed to perform at a high level.
With an NBA Cup semifinal spot on the line, count on the Knicks to win comfortably — and for Madison Square Garden to let their feelings about Trae Young be heard throughout.
Current Atlanta Hawks vs. New York Knicks Odds
| Team | Moneyline | Spread | Total |
| Hawks | +275 | +8.5 (-115) | Over 233.5 (-115) |
| Knicks | -400 | -8.5 (-115) | Under 233.5 (-115) |
How to Make Atlanta Hawks vs. New York Knicks Picks
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