Knicks vs Hawks Prediction, Picks for Wednesday, Nov. 15
Here's everything you need to know about Knicks vs Hawks on Wednesday, Nov. 15 — our expert prediction and betting picks for today.
The Knicks!
The Hawks!
We hoped this would be a real rivalry, and maybe it becomes that at some point, but it doesn't appear that way for the time being.
You may still get your occasional anti-Trae Young chants at Madison Square Garden, but this hasn't appeared to be Knicks vs. Heat circa mid-to-late 1990s, nor is it even in New York tonight — we're in Atlanta.
But at least these teams will be competitive and interesting all season. And after missing last night's game against the Detroit Pistons due to personal reasons, hopefully, Young plays to make this all the more interesting.
Let's get to our Knicks vs Hawks predictions and pick.
Knicks vs Hawks Prediction
Earlier this Season
The Knicks and the Hawks already faced each other once this season, also in Atlanta, on Friday, October 27, where the Knicks won 126-120. In that game, the Knicks had shooting splits of 48/46/71, including 20 made 3s on 44 attempts, undeterred by Immanuel Quickley going 1-for-9 from downtown.
Jalen Brunson paced the effort with 31 points and five assists, making eight threes and was a game-high +13.
The Hawks shot well but not as well, putting up 48/38/88, while Young had a forgettable 4-for-16 shooting display leading to 18 points, aided by 12 assists, but also turned the ball over six times. Dejounte Murray had a more efficient 18 points, doing so on 8-for-17 shooting, along with seven rebounds and six assists to one turnover. The team was led by De'Andre Hunter, who had 27 points.
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Outlook on the Hawks
The Hawks beat the Detroit Pistons 126-120 without Young on Tuesday night behind a balanced effort led by Murray, who had 32 points and 10 assists. Saddiq Bey, Bogdan Bogdanovic, Jalen Johnson and De'Andre Hunter all netted between 16 and 19 points each.
The Hawks, who are now 6-4, are opposite the Knicks in some ways. They went into their game against the Pistons as a bottom-10 defense, a top-10 offense and third in pace, making for a real "styles makes fights" situation.
This isn't dissimilar to how the teams have profiled in previous years either, they're just more mature on each side now, and the Hawks — with Quin Snyder — are better coached than they were in their previous iterations, many would say.
Young is always the focal point if active. He's at 24.4 points and 10.2 assists per game, but he's shooting a miserable 35.7 percent from the field and 29.4 percent on 3s. He's getting 10 free throw attempts per game, converting 90 percent, so there's that.
If he's out again, Murray is the one to watch. His usage jumps from 25.7 to 29.6 and has a 11.9 net rating without Young on the court, over three points higher than when he's there. It isn't to say Murray is worse with Young, but rather, he's been trustworthy when needing to shoulder the load.
For the season, Murray is averaging a career-best 22.9 points with 6.0 assists, 4.6 rebounds and 1.5 steals per contest.
And the cast of Bey, Bogdanovic, Hunter and Johnson can fill it up, especially from three.
Outlook on the Knicks
The Knicks are 5-5 and coming off a 114-98 loss against the Boston Celtics on Monday night, where RJ Barrett wasn't available due to a migraine. The New York-based club is fluttering around .500 through the first 12 percent of the season.
Once again, they're bottom of the barrel in pace, therefore, close to last in scoring, but additionally, they're great defensively so far and even have a net rating of +4.2, which is seventh in the NBA following their 16-point loss to Boston.
Unfortunately for the Knicks, they're on the second of a five-game road trip, and this particular stretch includes four games over the next six days.
Barrett is the only relevant Knick with an injury diagnosis and is questionable to play Wednesday after sitting out Monday with a migraine.
A big part of the Knicks' effectiveness has been their effort on the boards, where they lead the NBA in offensive rebounds per 100 possessions (14.8) and total rebounds per 100 possessions (49.7), 1.2 boards over the second-place Celtics. The Knicks also currently have the third to last true shooting percentage in the league (53.5), which is why their activity on the glass is so important.
In terms of production, Jalen Brunson is always one to watch. He's at 22.6 points and 4.3 assists per game this season on 42/43/82 shooting.
Julius Randle, already notoriously bad this season, has been less bad as of late. He began the season getting just 13.7 points, 10.5 rebounds and 5.2 assists per game on 27/23/62 shooting in the first six games of the season. Since then, he's been up to 24.5 points, 10.0 rebounds and 4.5 assists on 43/31/79 shooting. Again, bad to less bad.
Knicks vs Hawks Picks, Odds
| Knicks Odds | ||
|---|---|---|
| Spread | Over/Under | Moneyline |
+10.5 -110 | 223.5 -110 / -110 | +360 |
| Hawks Odds | ||
|---|---|---|
| Spread | Over/Under | Moneyline |
-10.5 -110 | 223.5 -110 / -110 | -500 |
For this game, I'm eyeing one side bet, one prop.
- Side: I'm going Knicks moneyline at -118 (DraftKings). They're -1.5 road favorites, and while I'd typically lean Hawks because they've already given one to New York at home, the Knicks aren't coming off a back-to-back. We still have two big looming injury questions regarding Young and Barrett, but as of now, both have props listed, so assume the line has them baked into play — doesn't mean they will, projections are projections until confirmation. But the Knicks match up well with Atlanta, are mostly healthy, could apply much of what they did last time in Atlanta.
- Prop: Barrett over 20.5 pts at -106 (FanDuel). He's hit this in five of seven games this season and is enjoying the best start of his career. Barrett so far is blowing his career best marks out of the water in numerous categories, including true shooting percentage (.620), points per 100 possessions (36.2), offensive rating (121), and box plus-minus (4.5). His previous highs were .535, 29.0, 107 and -1.2. This is the first year that the nerd numbers really like Barrett, so for now, there's reason to believe it'll continue.
