Playoff debacle reminds Hawks are far from where they want to get to

There’s nothing quite like losing three consecutive playoff games by a combined 96 points to bring clarity to your perspective.

It’s undeniable that the Hawks made a lot of progress in the second half of the regular season. But that memorable 20-6 record after the All-Star break must be weighed against the meltdown in the final three games of their first-round playoff loss to the New York Knicks, culminating in Thursday night’s grotesquerie of a 140-89 loss at State Farm Arena.

And if there’s a positive to be gleaned from getting dragged across the court three times over the course of six days, it’s that those lovable New Yorkers provided a counterbalance to that optimism.

“They came in and I think, really after Game 3, they were tougher than us,” guard Dyson Daniels said Friday, the day after the Knicks eliminated the Hawks. “They were tougher in every aspect. They were more physical than us. They were mentally tougher. We couldn’t really get a handle on any game after Game 3.”

The obvious fix that the Hawks need is more size in the frontcourt. It didn’t help that backup big Jock Landale was out with an ankle injury, but the Hawks didn’t have answers for Knicks big men Karl-Anthony Towns and Mitchell Robinson, not to mention 6-foot-7, 240-pound forward OG Anunoby.

It helps explain why the Knicks had a significant advantage in baskets scored at the rim (126 to the Hawks’ 99) and had a 28% offensive rebounding percentage to the Hawks’ 21%.

But the difference was more than that. After the Knicks took back home-court advantage in Game 4 with a physically dominant performance, the Hawks spoke of the need to match New York’s physicality and be more aggressive, only for Game 5 to play out similarly.

Before Game 6, the Hawks again vowed similar plans, only now with the added urgency of being in a “win or go home” situation. But they were torn to shreds by a Knicks team that was not only better, but also more prepared for the crucible of an elimination game.

The Hawks will learn from this experience and be better for it.

“We’re going to learn a lot from this series and just make sure the non-negotiables never happen again,” All-Star forward Jalen Johnson said.

But to chalk up the results solely to New York’s advantages in size and postseason experience would be a mistake.

Lots of inexperienced teams have run up against savvier clubs in the playoffs. And, not that final scores say everything, but only one team in NBA history has lost three consecutive playoff games by a worse aggregate than the Hawks’ minus-96 points, according to Stathead.

And, if you watched the series, you didn’t need the scores to tell you how the Knicks undid the Hawks individually and as a team. And if you didn’t watch it, Daniels’ honest comment that “they were tougher in every aspect” spells it out quite clearly.

And, not to hold Johnson’s words against him, but you’d like to think even a young team doesn’t have to learn that committing non-negotiable basketball sins is indeed non-negotiable.

You might be glad to know that general manager Onsi Saleh was paying attention.

It really can’t be stressed enough how remarkable a job he and coach Quin Snyder did in pivoting off franchise player Trae Young and big man Kristaps Porzingis to a version that finished with a better record than Young-led teams had achieved in all but one of his seven full seasons with the Hawks.

But Saleh will put weight on what happened vs. the Knicks.

“I think because it’s such a short time, it’s a little trickier, but there is a big enough sample to understand the archetypes we need, the archetypes we have,” Saleh said. “What our guys need to work on.”

He’ll have opportunities. He has decisions to make on CJ McCollum (expiring contract) and Jonathan Kuminga (club option), among others. The team will find out May 10 its fate in the draft lottery. The Hawks hold New Orleans’ pick, which has a 6.8% chance of becoming the top pick, and also Cleveland’s pick, No. 23. (If you’re wondering, it sounds very much like Snyder’s job is safe.)

I asked Daniels if adding a playoff-savvy veteran could help.

“Yeah, for sure,” he said. “Having vets is obviously going to help.”

It almost certainly wouldn’t be a big name, or even just one name. You can put your dreams of Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo aside. Something Saleh says often is that the team isn’t one player away.