The Atlanta Hawks feel like their first-round opponents are taking a page out of the book of the Andrew Bogut-era Golden State Warriors.
After Tuesday’s Game 2 loss to the New York Knicks, Hawks coach Nate McMillan spoke out on what he saw as questionable screens by the Knicks.
“I thought they were setting some screens that need to be looked at,” McMillan said, per Ryan Dunleavy of the New York Post. “That’s a part of this game. Certainly in the playoffs you have to set screens with [defensive] pressure that teams and guards will be applying, and we have to do a better job of setting screens. But I thought [in Game 2] they set some screens that the league has to look at.”
Hawks big man John Collins also expressed a very similar sentiment.
“The screens that have been made and the elbows that have been flying the first two games are illegal,” said Collins. “They are not basketball plays. That’s how I feel. Obviously, the officials have the ability to make their calls and we have to live with that. I wasn’t vulgar or disrespectful in any way when those calls were made. But they are illegal.”
Dunleavy points out one example in Game 2 where Hawks guard Bogdan Bogdanovic got slammed by a Julius Randle screen that led to a basket.
JULIUS RANDLE WITH THE HARD SCREEN AND THE SLOW MO EURO STEP! pic.twitter.com/wMXpLy5Aoo
— Talkin’ Knicks (@TalkinKnicks) May 27, 2021
The series, which is now even at 1-1, has already gotten pretty personal. As play now shifts over to Atlanta, the Hawks are looking to balance the scales any way that they can.
