Knicks at Hawks: How & Who to Watch as Pre-All-Star Slate Ends

The Knicks have one more challenge ahead before Julius Randle, Quentin Grimes, and Jericho Sims make their way to Salt Lake City.

The final portion of the NBA schedule set before the All-Star break affords New York Knicks fans a big opportunity to see how far they've come.

New York finds itself at the nesting grounds of an old enemy on Wednesday night when they take on the Atlanta Hawks at State Farm Arena. It provides the Knicks a brilliant opportunity to not only go into the break on the right note but also create further breathing space on the Eastern Conference's Play-In Tournament bracket. Entering Wednesday's showdown, the Knicks are 2.5 games up on the Hawks and a half-game behind Miami for the sixth and final automatic Eastern playoff spot.

The Knicks will thus look to salvage a four-game set against the Hawks, seeking a split after dropping two of the first three meetings. In the department of futility, the Knicks dropped a 139-124 decision to Atlanta in the most recent staging on Jan. 20, though the Hawks have gone just 5-7 since. Wednesday's hosts let up a season-worst in scoring on Monday, falling 144-138 to the Charlotte Hornets.

What: New York Knicks (32-27) @ Atlanta Hawks (29-29)

Where: State Farm Arena, Atlanta, GA

When/Watch: Friday, 7:30 p.m. ET, MSG/MSG Go

Who's Favored: ATL -3

YESSIR RJ BARRETT 🎯 pic.twitter.com/MXNJaSCQJu

— NEW YORK KNICKS (@nyknicks) February 12, 2023

Keep An Eye On: RJ Barrett

As successful as this Knicks season has been, some of the recent discourse has centered on Barrett, far and away the franchise face in terms of homegrown perspective. Josh Hart's sudden breakout (and the Knicks' accompanied prosperity) since donning blue-and-orange have caused the lingering extremists in the debate to wonder if his role is redundant.

The advanced statistics against Barrett are damning enough but things reached a bit of a nadir in Monday's win over Brooklyn. In 24 minutes, Barrett was a mere 2-of-8 from the field, hauled in only one rebound, and was mostly relegated to a spectator while the Knicks pulled away from their crosstown rivals. Though the Knicks have won each of Hart's first two showings, Barrett has struggled to the tune of 35 percent shooting from the field, though he did come up big with 10 fourth quarter points in Saturday's win over Utah. 

Kept safe from the Donovan Mitchell negotiations and bestowed a massive contract extension that keeps him firmly entrenched in New York's basketball future, Barrett needs to start backing the Knicks' faith in him. Going into the All-Star break on a high note against one of the team's recent recurring enemies would be the perfect way to do that.

Dejounte Murray with the TUFF And-One💪pic.twitter.com/PZ1gT7LHzg

— Hawks Nation (@HawksNationCP) February 14, 2023

Hawk to Watch: Dejounte Murray 

Many have done their utmost to turn "Trae Young vs. the Knicks" into a lasting one-man vs. all rivalry, but the Knicks' bigger issue has been Murray. While Young enters on a bit of a tear (28.3 points and 14.3 assists over the last three), it's perhaps no coincidence that the Knicks' one win against Atlanta (a 24-point shellacking at Madison Square Garden on Dec. 7) came when Murray had to leave the game with an early injury.

Murray has broken out in the two victories to the tune of a combined 68 points, 21 assists, and eight steals against New York. His services in the area of Knicks elimination could be huge as the team tries to break free of its "Even Steven" nature and get back into the top six conversation. 

It would behoove Murray to take the proceedings a little personally: not only would he love to justify Atlanta's decision to trade away a good bit of its future for him, but he hasn't tasted the playoffs since 2018. 

Prediction

This Knicks season has been largely built upon the team taking care of business when it has to. As long as Murray is kept in check, they should be able to do that in their final pre-All-Star showing and build further, stable ground between themselves and the hated Hawks. 

Knicks 122, Hawks 119

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Geoff Magliocchetti is on Twitter @GeoffJMags

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