Knicks Coach Tom Thibodeau is just about out of buttons to push. And he's running out of time to find new ones. On Sunday, in Game 4 of their first-round N.B.A. playoff series, his Knicks kept the Atlanta Hawks' elite backcourt tandem of Trae Young and Bogdan Bogdanovic relatively contained. The two players combined to shoot 40.6 percent from the field. Young went to the free-throw line only five times, four below his season average. Thibodeau got the first productive game of the series out of RJ Barrett, who had 21 points on 8-of-15 shooting, 6 rebounds and 4 assists. And Thibodeau's midseries adjustment, inserting guard Derrick Rose and center Taj Gibson into the starting lineup, continued to play dividends: Rose again carried the team offensively for stretches, and Gibson provided tough defense and rebounding. But the Knicks were still run off the court in the second half, losing, 113-96. They are on the brink of elimination heading into Game 5 of the best-of-seven series on Wednesday at Madison Square Garden. Thibodeau cannot adjust the Knicks out of this: His best player, Julius Randle, has been a negative on the court. On Sunday, Randle had his best game of the series — and it wasn't very good: He had 23 points on 7-of-19 shooting, along with 10 rebounds and seven assists. Six of those points came in the fourth quarter when the game was well in hand. In the first half, Randle shot 4 of 12, continuing a series-long slump. He looked more active in spurts throughout the game, but he also seemed to be late on some close-outs against the Hawks' shooters. The Hawks won on the strength of their perimeter shooting, converting 15 of 39 attempts from 3-point range (38.5 percent).He tried to establish his ailing jump shot early. He missed several step-backs, which made life more difficult for him at the rim, where he missed makable layups. Some of Randle's ineffectiveness is because the Hawks have engineered their entire defense to stop him. And Randle seemed to make an adjustment Sunday by getting rid of the ball much quicker when double teams arrived."I like a lot of the plays that Julius made today," Thibodeau said after the game. "I've felt this all along. It is Julius's makeup. As he goes through things, he always gets better and better, and that's who he is.