„I ain’t thinking about that. We’re winning tonight. I’m not thinking about that.“<\/b>
\nThe Knicks face a win or stay home scenario in Game 5 as they play host to the Hawks for the third time in their first round series, trailing 3-1 after splitting the first two at Madison Square Garden and then getting pretty much dominated in the two games in Atlanta. As the series shifts back to Manhattan, the Hawks have started to get more vocal about how they feel about the series, with Clint Capela saying they\u2019re going to send the Knicks on vacation in Game 5. New York\u2019s stars chose to shrug that off and not get into a war of words, but after how things went in Atlanta, it\u2019s hard to blame the Hawks for feeling very confident they can close the series out. On the other side, the Knicks are desperate to figure things out, particularly offensively, for Game 5, and that will start with Julius Randle and RJ Barrett simply making some of the tough shots they had all regular season. Those two have struggled so far, combining to go, on average,10-for-31 each game from the field, which just isn\u2019t a pathway to success. Even so, Barrett and company are keeping the mindset that they\u2019re going to find it and win Game 5. When a reporter posed a question to Barrett after shootaround on Wednesday about how he\u2019ll view this season should the Knicks lose, he shut down that line of thinking saying he\u2019s not thinking about that and that they\u2019re winning tonight. RJ Barrett on how the Knicks will view their season if the series ends tonight: „We’re winning tonight, I’m not thinking about that“ pic.twitter.com\/vJ8BwFMI0Q Knicks Videos (@sny_knicks) June 2, 2021 As we have entered a space where we are talking more about the press conference\/scrum experience for players, it is questions like this that draw much of the ire from players. This is a solid exit interview question after the season posed too early \u2014 one that maybe would play with a coach who is more likely to be willing to talk big picture at this time of year \u2014 but a player is always going to scoff at any notion of a question that starts with \u201cif you lose\u201d because their entire mindset is to focus on how they\u2019re going to win not the ramifications of a loss. Barrett was understandably not pleased with it and shut it down with that \u201cwe\u2019re winning tonight\u201d to keep it moving.<\/p>\n