Tony Bradley hadn’t played much for the Pacers in the postseason at that point last year, and he wouldn’t play in the Eastern Conference finals until the second game, but he still watched as Tyrese Haliburton’s last-second heave stunned the Knicks by forcing overtime in Game 1.
And Bradley saw how that draining result — the Knicks’ double-digit lead late in regulation evaporated completely — carried over into the next game that Indiana won, too.
That’s why Bradley, now a backup center for the Hawks facing the possibility of an expanded role this series, knows the importance of stealing that first game to “set the tone,” which Atlanta will have the chance to do at the Garden when the first-round series opens Saturday.
“I think it’s very important to hit them in the mouth first,” Bradley told reporters in Atlanta on Thursday, while adding that the Knicks were “for sure” demoralized by Haliburton’s shot.
Bradley, a first-round pick by the Lakers in 2017, was waived by the Pacers in January before his contract became guaranteed, and after a pair of 10-day deals with Indiana that followed, he remained unsigned until the Hawks picked him up earlier this month after an injury to backup center Jock Landale.
With Landale now sidelined for at least the start of the series — the Hawks said Thursday that he’ll be re-evaluated in 1-2 weeks — with a right ankle sprain, it’s unclear just how sizable of a role Bradley could have against the Knicks.
In three regular-season games with Atlanta, Bradley averaged 11.3 minutes, 3.7 points and three rebounds per game.
For the season, he’s averaging 4.0 points and 2.8 rebounds across 10.9 minutes per game.
But Bradley has experienced what it takes to topple the Knicks. And he knows the impact that a devastating blow at the Garden, especially at the start of a series, can have.
“Their crowd is, it can be intimidating,” Bradley said. “But it’s fun at the same time.”
Josh Hart didn’t hesitate. Asked what the Knicks can take from their three regular-season matchups with the Hawks, he said, “None.” They didn’t have Karl-Anthony Towns for one of the games. Hart didn’t play in two of them, either.
“The regular season honestly doesn’t really matter when you look at it in terms of a scope like this,” Hart said, “because you never know — regular season, there’s a lot of things that you have. I don’t know if they were back-to-backs, you know, who’s in, who’s out, whatever it is.
“So, you know, you throw those out the window and you just focus on the team and the personnel that they have right now.”
Knicks head coach Mike Brown, tasked with navigating against the Hawks’ Quin Snyder — who was on Brown’s staff with the Lakers in 2011-12 — over the next two weeks in a coaching chess match, opted to not look too far ahead with how he’ll approach the challenge.
“Just one day at a time,” Brown said. “More than anything else, it’s my job to make sure we as a group, starting with me, stay present, and, you know, you go through the hypotheticals, but you can’t dwell on them because if you do, you’ll lose focus at what your strengths are.”
