Dyson's 'manhandled' Hawks on brink of elimination

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Aussie guard Dyson Daniels says he hopes to carry his form from their game five loss to the New York Knicks into game six after he had his best offensive game of the first-round playoff series despite the Atlanta Hawks being "manhandled" in a 126-97 defeat at Madison Square Garden.

Daniels, who has struggled for efficiency on the offensive end in recent weeks, had 17 points while shooting 7-from-11 from the field and 2-from-4 from the three-point line, along with five assists and no turnovers in the 29-point loss which puts the Hawks on the brink of elimination.

Last season's Most Improved Player said his team needed to "be better" to keep the series alive in game six.

"We got smashed tonight but we still got a chance, it's 3-2, we're going home to protect our home court, I mean we got to be better, we've got to come out, we got to be more physical, we got to play harder, they came in and just you know manhandled us," Daniels said in his post-game press conference.

"We're going to have to really change things around if we want to get game six.

"I just think (New York's) mindset was to come out and try to bully us and be physical and and they did that. They pushed us under on rebounds, they set really good screens, they did all the little things, they took care of the ball.

"I think for us, we just got to move the ball, we got to get better shots, we got to take care of it, so there's a lot of things that, I don't think we played anywhere near our best basketball at all this series."

Daniels, known as a defensive stopper, spent significant time on Knicks big man Karl-Anthony Towns and spoke about the tough task of guarding one of the most talented shooting bigs in the NBA.

"I think for him, obviously it's just about crowding his space, they put him in a lot of actions to be a passer, so (I'm just) trying to push out the catch and mirror the ball and then be physical and not allow him to get you know deep seals and post catches and stuff like that.

"But, I mean obviously he can really shoot the ball as well. So, it's about you know crowding him making him go east to west rather than north south."

After not breaking double-digits in the past four games against New York, Daniels was one of Atlanta's best offensive players in game five as the Hawks couldn't crack 100 points and the Bendigo product said it was all about being aggressive.

"I just came out try to be more aggressive. Obviously I was playing in the pocket a lot, from the start of the game (I was) trying to get downhill (and) attack Brunson," he said.

"I mean I haven't had a good offensive series at all this playoffs, so for me, to come out tonight and just get it going a little bit, hopefully I can carry that over to game six."

If the Hawks are able to extend the series to seven games back at the Garden, Daniels said they needed to be better as a team defensively and get back to playing their trademark up-tempo style of basketball, which the Knicks haven't allowed in recent games.

"I think we just got to come in and really be better as a team defensively, we got good individual defenders but we got to be better on on the team defence," he said.

"We want to play fast but you can't play fast when we put them on the free-throw line and and we're not getting stops. So we've got to be better at keeping them off the free-throw line, then we just got to have the mindset to run."

"Everyone's got to run, if you have four guys running, one guy doesn't, that hurts you as well. So five guys got to run, got to space, but we haven't played to our strengths this series and we haven't, I don't think, had a game where we've had a good fast break or got a lot of fast break points."

Game six at Atlanta's State Farm Arena is on Friday at 9am (AET).

NBA BOX SCORE: San Antonio Spurs vs Portland Trail Blazers

Former Australian Boomers star Matisse Thybulle and the Portland Trail Blazers have been eliminated from the Western Conference playoffs after the San Antonio Spurs earned a 114-95 win at the Frost Bank Center to finish with a 4-1 series victory.

Thybulle, who has been in impressive form in the second half of the season, played 15 minutes and had two points, going 1-from-5 from the field and 0-from-5 from beyond the arc. He did end the game with two assists, two steals, one rebound and one block.

The 29-year-old will become a restricted free agent in the offseason after completing his three-year deal with the Trail Blazers.