The Hawks have one of the game’s elite rim protectors, as Clint Capela is third in the league in blocks per game at 2.8 a night. However, Capela does tend to struggle when guarding in space, as does PF John Collins, which opens up an opportunity for Julius Randle to have a big game tonight.
Randle is averaging 22.4 points per game this season for the Knicks, and there are now fewer eyeballs on him with New York acquiring Derrick Rose as another scoring option. That means that Randle should get better looks the rest of the season. Randle scored 28 points when the Knicks beat the Hawks earlier in the year, so maybe those better looks will result in an even bigger performance.