Jalen Johnson Discusses What the Hawks Need to Improve Upon Heading Into Matchup vs the Knicks

Atlanta hosts the Knicks in their home opener on Friday night

The Atlanta Hawks did not get the start they wanted to on Wednesday night against the Charlotte Hornets, but one of the bright spots from the game was the play of third-year forward Jalen Johnson. Johnson scored a career-high 21 points against Charlotte on Wednesday and is primed to carry that momentum over to Friday's game against the New York Knicks. 

When asked about what the Hawks need to improve upon the most heading into their home opener against New York, Johnson spoke about a variety of things that they need to do better: 

"We have a lot of room to improve, we did a lot of good things but there is a lot of room to get better and I think that everyone has that same mindset that we are willing to do whatever it takes to keep getting better throughout this season."

In terms of what did work on Wednesday night against Charlotte, Johnson said there are some things that the team can carry over into their matchup with the Knicks:

"Getting stops, getting out in transition, and ball movement as well. We showed in that first half when we were getting stops, we were running and then it kind of slowed down in the second half and we are just looking to maintain that throughout the entire game."

Jalen Johnson had a career night on Wednesday against the Hornets / Nell Redmond-USA TODAY Sports

Johnson also said that it is just one game out of an 82-game season and that it was not necessarily anything the Hornets were doing that was slowing the Hawks down:

"It's the first game, we got 81 more games to keep getting better at it. Nobody is dwelling or tripping over that loss and we are just going to keep on moving forward."

The Knicks are a good defensive team and are going to be tough to score on for anyone. Johnson detailed what he thinks the Hawks need to do to have success tonight:

"Yeah, we just gotta box out, close out possessions. Like you said, they have big bodies and we have to get the rebounds and get out and run."

"Protect home court, of course. We've just got to come out with a lot of energy from the jump. Set the tone right away."@Jalen_J23 looks build off his career-high scoring performance heading into tonight's @ATLHawks home opener.#TrueToAtlanta pic.twitter.com/5I9ahSaIp7

— Bally Sports: Hawks (@HawksOnBally) October 27, 2023

Johnson looked comfortable in all facets of the game, from running the floor to scoring in the post. Johnson had the best game of his young career and finished with a career-high 21 points. He shot 9-13 from the field and also had seven rebounds. 

Johnson looked great in the preseason and I picked him as the breakout player this year for the Hawks. I think he is going to be a real candidate for Most Improved Player of the Year. It is just one game, but Johnson delivered on the preseason hype that he generated and he might just be getting started on what he can do.

Viewing and Betting Information

Tip-off time: 7:00 p.m. Eastern Time

Location: State Farm Arena, Atlanta, GA

Where to Watch: NBA League Pass and Bally Sports Southeast

Spread and Over/Under: The Hawks are going to be slight favorites at home tonight, as they are currently 1.5 point favorites according to the latest odds from the SI Sportsbook

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