The Atlanta Hawks and New York Knicks had everybody hoping for a seven-game series. Even more, Tom Thibodeau's squad was pegged as the favorites heading in after the best season in a long time for New York. After a Game 1 victory at Madison Square Garden off a Trae Young floater, followed by a Knicks comeback victory in Game 2, the Hawks went to Atlanta and took Game 3 at home.

Now, it appears that the Knicks' issues are being put under the limelight. While their team defense has been their focal point all season, and a huge reason why they finished as the 4-seed in the Eastern Conference, they have hit a wall. The Hawks won Game 3 by a score of 105-94 and have taken a 2-1 series lead with a chance to take the series back to Madison Square Garden with a huge 3-1 advantage.

Derrick Rose has been sensational, and finally got thrown into the starting lineup over Elfrid Payton, who ended up with a whopping zero minutes in Game 3. Rose dropped 30 points on 13-21 from the field. However, after that, it was a subpar offensive performance.

Julius Randle, the league's Most Improved Player of the Year, has totaled 44 points over the first three games, and there's no way that is sustainable.

Reggie Bullock and Nerlens Noel were the only other Knicks players to finish in double figures. As a team, they shot 35 percent from the field, compared to the Hawks' 51 percent clip.

Somehow, someway, the Knicks have been bad and Julius Randle has struggled big time.

That's not sustainable, right? It feels like Randle is due for an explosion game, hopefully in Game 4, but if he continues to play like this, the season could end for New York quicker than they had hoped for.

Trae Young and Atlanta have been phenomenal and have found ways to frustrate Randle and the Knicks, but Coach Thibs has to have something ready come Game 4. The decision to insert Derrick Rose into the starting lineup paid dividends, at least on the surface.

Game 4 will be interesting and the Knicks need to do everything they can to tie the series at 2-2 and head back to Madison Square Garden with a little bit of momentum.