EPoint guard Derrick Rose claimed his status as the winner of the league’s Most Valuable Player (MVP) award and scored 26 points that put him at the forefront of the New York Knicks’ attack that beat the Atlanta Hawks 101-92 in the second game of the Eastern Conference playoff tie, which is now tied (1-1) for best of seven.
Rose, who came out of reserve, played 39 minutes in which he made 9 of 21 shots from the field, including 2 of 3 triples, and was perfect from the personnel line, in addition to capturing four rebounds and distributing four assists.
Rose’s figure was felt more than ever after the Knicks’ new franchise player, power forward Julius Randle, who had received the Most Improved Player of the season award the day before, was given the option to start. again very inconsistent when he missed the first six shots he made to the basket at half time.
Randle’s poor contribution put the Knicks down 13 points on the scoreboard.
But with Rose moving into the starting lineup to open the third quarter, Randle scored 11 points on 4-of-5 shooting in the period the Knicks took the lead.
Randle finished the game with a double-double of 15 points and 12 rebounds, despite another bad night of shooting from the field, he finished it with 5 of 16, which was not much better than the 6 of 23 in the first game.
But if Rose did her best, so did forward Reggie Bullock, who hit four 3-pointers in the second half and also had 15 points, as the Knicks guaranteed there will be at least one more game at Madison Square Garden, in a game. season full of unexpected success for the New York team.
Point guard Trae Young scored 30 points as the Hawks’ attack leader after scoring 32 and scoring the winning tiebreaker in Game 1 of the playoff.
While Serbian guard Bogdan Bogdanovic and forward De’Andre Hunter added 18 apiece, they couldn’t prevent the Hawks from losing in the end, but return to Atlanta with the home field advantage in their favor.
Game 3 will be played Friday night in Atlanta, where the Hawks will be greeted by a sold-out crowd in the stands of their State Farm Arena field for the first time since before the coronavirus pandemic.
Rose made the basket and gave the Knicks the final advantage at 93-91 with 4:45 left and became the card kept by New York team coach Tom Thibodeau to surprise the Hawks and save the season. .
While Young and Bogdanovic were always the Hawks players who kept them ahead on the scoreboard during the first half.
New York decided on Rose and power forward Taj Gibson in the second half and Randle opened it with a triple for his first basket. Canadian guard-forward RJ Barrett and Rose made consecutive 3s to cut it to 61-55.
Atlanta seemed to have recovered and held 12 points up on the scoreboard.
But then Randle helped fuel a 16-2 streak for the Knicks by resuming his most aggressive offensive game after being passive in the first half and his jump shot after two consecutive 3-pointers by Bullock put New York up. on the scoreboard with a 74-72 run with 1:45 left in the period.
The rest of the way it was all protagonism of Randle and Rose that ensured the victory of the Knicks, despite the opposition presented by Young and Bogdanovic.
Game 3 in Atlanta will be the first playoff game at State Farm Arena since its renovation in 2018. It hosted this season’s All-Star Game.
The Swiss power forward Clint Capela, although he finished with 12 rebounds and five blocks, was still not a winning factor for the Hawks, scoring only four points.
Hawks interim coach Nate McMillan acknowledged at the end of the game that his team lacked offensive consistency until the end and that they had missed a great opportunity to have gone 2-0.
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