Alexander-Walker: Hawks’ playoff loss an opportunity to ‘reshape,’ ‘respond’
The dust has settled and the Hawks have dispersed for the offseason. For Nickeil Alexander-Walker, the team’s first-round loss is the lesson that will make it stronger.
“Do I think there’s, there’s, there’s some beauty in it?” Alexander-Walker said in his end-of-season media availability Friday.
“I guess. Because when you look back to anyone who has success in this league, they’ve struggled in the postseason, and as much as you want to get ahead of the curve as best as possible, turn that corner and just take off, the likelihood of that is unheard of, quite frankly.”
The Hawks’ loss to the Knicks left a bad taste in their mouths. Now, they look to the future and to respond to the loss by correcting where they went wrong.
“I think for me, it allowed me to reshape my focus, to say, ‘You know what, I have a chance at making something special of this situation. I get to respond next year, try to go to the playoffs,’” Alexander-Walker said.
“And, after losing the way we did, how I approach the game and having a whole season now under my belt and growing into it, and ‘OK, I can be so much better. This is how I improve.’ And then hopefully next year is different.”
For Alexander-Walker, that could include hitting on the right formula that helped his offensive productivity during the regular season. The Knicks executed their plan to get this season’s NBA Most Improved Player winner off his spots and forced him into tough, contested jumpers.
As Alexander-Walker heads into the offseason, he said he will try to balance that drive to improve with being there for his family.
“For me, the main thing is the main thing, and it’s always going to be that, and my compass for who I want to be, where I want to go, the goals that I continuously set for myself, and just trying to strive to be a better me,” Alexander-Walker said. “I think in just doing that every day, I’ll be with family, I’ll be in the gym, I’ll be in a good, healthy mental space as well, because that’s important in this league, in this game.”
Alexander-Walker said he feels emboldened that the team began something that they can keep building on.
“It’s exciting and it’s promising,” Alexander-Walker said. “And it shows that there is something there. Anytime you can have success to any degree when you work really hard, it’s reassuring to the process that you’re on.
“And it gives you that trial and error to say, ‘OK, we are doing the right thing. This is the right thing. Now, where did we go wrong along the way?’ Then you kind of, like, just reshape it and keep going and keep growing.”
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