I Called the Hawks Dangerous. Now Everyone's Reading My Receipts.

I've been calling the Hawks the most dangerous team in this bracket since March. Now Covers ranks them the number-one most dangerous first-round underdog. Yahoo syndicated it nationally. ClutchPoints says Atlanta is "primed to slay the Knicks giant." NYKnicksNews — a Knicks fan blog — published an actual upset alert.

I appreciate the company. But the national catch-up crew is still burying the lede.

Karl-Anthony Towns is averaging 13.8 field goal attempts per game this season. That is the fewest of his entire career. Lower than his rookie year. A seven-foot franchise centerpiece is disappearing from his own offense, and he told reporters exactly why: "I'm still trying to figure out where I could impact our team and winning the most."

Read that again. Game 1 tips tonight and your $100-million big man is still figuring it out.

Shaq heard it too. Called KAT's inconsistency the thing that "scares" him about the Knicks heading into the playoffs. When Shaquille O'Neal says a center scares him — and he means it the wrong way — that's not analysis. That's a diagnosis.

The Hawks are 5th in pace. The Knicks are 25th. Atlanta shoots 37.1 percent from three — 6th in the league. They posted the biggest post-All-Star-Break net rating improvement in 27 years. Everything about this matchup says "run them off the floor."

I'm 72 percent sure the Hawks win Game 1 tonight at MSG. Not steal it. Win it. The Knicks' best player doesn't know his own role. The Hawks haven't had that problem since February.

Receipts. Timestamped. Screenshot this one.