Clint Capela is usually a pretty quiet giant. Despite being a veteran leader within the Atlanta Hawks locker room, he doesn’t typically speak much publicly or even get granted many interviews. So, when he promised in a media interview on Tuesday his Atlanta Hawks were about to send their opponent, the New York Knicks, “on vacation,” he raised many national NBA observers’ eye brows. And, based on his and his team’s performance in Wednesday night’s conclusive game five in which the Hawks made good on his promise by defeating the Knicks handily, by a final score of 103-89, the sporting world might do best to heed the words of Mr. Capela in the future. Speaking in a post-game interview about his comments from the day before, Capela remarked, “I really meant it because I trust my team and what we’ve built…we proved it tonight.”
The Hawks essentially lead the whole way. After a back and forth first quarter, the Hawks out scored the Knicks in each of the final three periods led by standout performances by Capela (14 points, 15 rebounds, two blocks) as well as his teammate Trae Young who became the first player in NBA history to score more than 30 points in three games at Madison Square Garden against the Knicks in the same playoff series.
Clint Capela is usually a pretty quiet giant. Despite being a veteran leader within the Atlanta Hawks locker room, he doesn’t typically speak much publicly or even get granted many interviews. So, when he promised in a media interview on Tuesday his Atlanta Hawks were about to send their opponent, the New York Knicks, “on vacation,” he raised many national NBA observers’ eye brows. And, based on his and his team’s performance in Wednesday night’s conclusive game five in which the Hawks made good on his promise by defeating the Knicks handily, by a final score of 103-89, the sporting world might do best to heed the words of Mr. Capela in the future. Speaking in a post-game interview about his comments from the day before, Capela remarked, “I really meant it because I trust my team and what we’ve built…we proved it tonight.”
The Hawks essentially lead the whole way. After a back and forth first quarter, the Hawks out scored the Knicks in each of the final three periods led by standout performances by Capela (14 points, 15 rebounds, two blocks) as well as his teammate Trae Young who became the first player in NBA history to score more than 30 points in three games at Madison Square Garden against the Knicks in the same playoff series.
Young’s Hawks frustrated the Knicks essentially from the start. One got the sense watching the game that the Knicks may have sensed their fate early on in what was a physical and chippy affair throughout. Both teams were assessed flagrant one fouls in the first half (Reggie Bullock for the Knicks and Kevin Huerter for the Hawks) with Julius Randle narrowly avoiding a flagrant one foul in a play that was reviewed after he threw an elbow at the Hawks’ Onyeka Okongwu and with Randle later being assessed a technical foul for throwing the ball at Trae Young as Young lay on the floor during a dead ball at the end of the half.
The Knicks just didn’t have the energy or the manpower to keep up with this deep, balanced, and suddenly lethal Hawks team. Having relied on 32 year-old Derek Rose and role player Alec Burks to provide much of their offense early in the series, and despite 23 points from Randle and another 21 from R.J. Barrett, the Knicks just lacked the sustained firepower to keep up with the comparably plethora of scoring options on this deep Hawks roster brilliantly orchestrated by a budding star in Young.
