Trae Young and the Hawks have been hated by Knicks fans since they ousted New York in the first round of the playoffs in 2021. Atlanta followed 2020-21 up with an eighth-place finish in the East and decided to trade for Dejounte Murray in the 2022 offseason. That acquisition hasn’t worked out as hoped for the Hawks.
Atlanta is currently No. 8 in the conference with a 29-30 record, so the team would be back in the play-in tournament if the season ended today. The Hawks entered the break with a poor effort against the Knicks that resulted in a 122-101 loss. Young posted 19 points while Murray only had six. What a duo.
Atlanta has had its fair share of drama already this season, too. Young and head coach Nate McMillan got into a disagreement a couple of months ago that resulted in Young not showing up to State Farm Arena to watch his team take on the Nuggets. Young brushed the issue off, but there’s clearly been some turmoil within the organization. The Athletic’s Shams Charania reported (subscription required) that McMillan “strongly” considered resigning after the Hawks got off to a 17-18 start.
On Tuesday afternoon, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that Atlanta had fired McMillan.
Although the Hawks will soon have a new head coach, it wouldn’t be surprising if Young were to request a trade during the offseason. He has three full seasons left on his contract.
Things aren’t near as bright as they were for the Hawks a couple of years ago, but that’s far from being a bad thing for Knicks fans.
left to play</a> in the 2022-23 season, there’s a chance that the Knicks could bypass the play-in tournament altogether.</p>
<p>Expectations weren’t high for New York entering the season, but the addition of Jalen Brunson and Julius Randle playing at an All-NBA level again has turned the Knicks into a legitimate conference threat. The Knicks are rarely viewed in a positive light by the media, but even they can’t deny what’s been unfolding in NYC.</p>
<p>Unsurprisingly, the Celtics (42-17) and Bucks (41-17) sit atop the Eastern Conference, but there are other teams like the Raptors and Bulls that have severely underperformed. The Knicks are in a good spot for the final stretch of the season that will prove whether or not this team will make it back to the playoffs for the second time in three seasons.</p>
<p>Looking ahead, here are four teams that New York should manage to finish above in the Eastern Conference standings to close out the regular season.</p>
<h2>4 Eastern Conference opponents Knicks should outperform in standings</h2>
<h3>4: Toronto Raptors</h3>
<p>New York’s Atlantic Divison rival has struggled all season long. Toronto was expected to make a series of moves leading up to the trade deadline, but instead, the only trade that Masai Ujiri made was acquiring Jakob Poeltl from San Antonio. The Raptors weren’t buyers as they kept OG Anunoby, Gary Trent Jr., Fred VanVleet, and Pascal Siakam.</p>
<p>Ujiri opted to keep Toronto’s core together for the remainder of the season, which ended up being good news for New York. The Knicks were one of the teams that expressed interest in Anunoby, but he could become available during the offseason. In the meantime, the Raptors should continue to underperform.</p>
<p>Toronto finished the 2021-22 season No. 5 in the East, but the team won’t come close to doing the same this season. The Raptors are currently No. 10 in the conference with a 28-31 record, so they’ll be fighting to remain in play-in contention. They entered the break with two consecutive wins, but they came against the two worst teams in the conference (the Pistons and Magic). Toronto will come back to a tough slate that features games against the Cavaliers, Nuggets, and Clippers.</p>
<p>Unless the Raptors return as a new team after the break, the Knicks should be able to maintain their spot above them in the standings.</p>
<div class="next-slide slider"> <a class="next-slide-btn" style="background: #007BC1" data-track="shortcode" data-track-action="next-slide-shortcode" href=https://dailyknicks.com/2023/02/22/4-eastern-conference-rivals-knicks-finish-standings/2/"#"> <span class="title">Next:</span> A hated non-division rival </a>
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<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-139808" src=https://dailyknicks.com/2023/02/22/4-eastern-conference-rivals-knicks-finish-standings/2/"https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/fetch/c_fill,g_auto,f_auto,h_2382,w_3200/https%3A%2F%2Fdailyknicks.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fgetty-images%2F2023%2F02%2F1466548582.jpeg" alt="New York Knicks, Jalen Brunson" width="3200" height="2382" srcset="https://dailyknicks.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2023/02/1466548582.jpeg 3200w, https://dailyknicks.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2023/02/1466548582-768x572.jpeg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 3200px) 100vw, 3200px"><p class="wp-caption-text">Jalen Brunson, New York Knicks. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)</p>
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<h3>3: Atlanta Hawks</h3>
<p>Trae Young and the Hawks have been hated by Knicks fans since they ousted New York in the first round of the playoffs in 2021. Atlanta followed 2020-21 up with an eighth-place finish in the East and decided to trade for Dejounte Murray in the 2022 offseason. That acquisition hasn’t worked out as hoped for the Hawks.</p>
<p>Atlanta is currently No. 8 in the conference with a 29-30 record, so the team would be back in the play-in tournament if the season ended today. The Hawks entered the break with a poor effort against the Knicks that resulted in a 122-101 loss. Young posted 19 points while Murray only had six. What a duo.</p>
<p>Atlanta has had its fair share of drama already this season, too. Young and head coach Nate McMillan got into a disagreement a couple of months ago that resulted in Young not showing up to State Farm Arena to watch his team take on the Nuggets. Young brushed the issue off, but there’s clearly been some turmoil within the organization. The Athletic’s Shams Charania <a href=https://dailyknicks.com/2023/02/22/4-eastern-conference-rivals-knicks-finish-standings/2/"https://theathletic.com/4046211/2022/12/30/nate-mcmillan-hawks-considers-resigning/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> (subscription required) that McMillan “strongly” considered resigning after the Hawks got off to a 17-18 start.</p>
<p>On Tuesday afternoon, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that Atlanta had fired McMillan.</p>
<div class="embed ">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">The Atlanta Hawks dismissed coach Nate McMillan, sources tell ESPN. <a href=https://dailyknicks.com/2023/02/22/4-eastern-conference-rivals-knicks-finish-standings/2/"https://t.co/Jjh3qlCnCX">pic.twitter.com/Jjh3qlCnCX
<p>— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) <a href=https://dailyknicks.com/2023/02/22/4-eastern-conference-rivals-knicks-finish-standings/2/"https://twitter.com/wojespn/status/1628157644107309056?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%22>February 21, 2023</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src=https://dailyknicks.com/2023/02/22/4-eastern-conference-rivals-knicks-finish-standings/2/"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p></div>
<p>Although the Hawks will soon have a new head coach, it wouldn’t be surprising if Young were to <a href=https://dailyknicks.com/2023/02/22/4-eastern-conference-rivals-knicks-finish-standings/2/"https://dailyknicks.com/2023/01/20/hawks-trae-young-disgruntled-star-knicks-pursue-trade/">request a trade</a> during the offseason. He has three full seasons left on his contract.</p>
<p>Things aren’t near as bright as they were for the Hawks a couple of years ago, but that’s far from being a bad thing for Knicks fans.</p>
<div class="next-slide slider"> <a class="next-slide-btn" style="background: #007BC1" data-track="shortcode" data-track-action="next-slide-shortcode" href=https://dailyknicks.com/2023/02/22/4-eastern-conference-rivals-knicks-finish-standings/2/"#"> <span class="title">Next:</span> A team that made it to the ECF </a>
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ahead of the deadline</a>. Brooklyn got a couple of quality players in return, such as Mikal Bridges and Cam Johnson, but the team is no longer the threat that it once was.</p>
<p>The Nets are the only team on this list that sits above the Knicks in the standings. Brooklyn is the fifth-best team in the conference with a 34-24 record. While the Nets could still make the playoffs, the Knicks should be able to outperform them in the final stretch of the season.</p>
<p>Since the trade deadline, Brooklyn has a 2-2 record that includes a 124-106 loss to New York, the first time that the Nets have lost to the Knicks since 2020. Brooklyn will have a chance to redeem itself on March 1 when the team returns to the Garden to take on the Knicks, but a win is no longer a given for this Nets team.</p>
<p>Thanks to being kept afloat by Irving in Durant’s injury absence, Brooklyn isn’t in a bad place. However, the Nets could easily slip down the standings between now and the end of the regular season in April.</p>
<p>The Irving/KD/Harden era concluded in Brooklyn without a title to the delight of Knicks fans. A bonus would be if New York were to surpass Brooklyn in the East, which is what should take place.</p>
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<blockquote class="wp-embedded-content" data-secret="gV6oLxJ7UB"><p><a href=https://dailyknicks.com/2023/02/22/4-eastern-conference-rivals-knicks-finish-standings/2/"https://dailyknicks.com/2023/02/19/revisiting-espn-hilarious-2022-23-record-prediction-knicks/">Revisiting ESPN’s hilarious 2022-23 record prediction for Knicks</a></p></blockquote>
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