New York had everything it wanted through three quarters of Game 2. A 12-point lead. A packed Madison Square Garden. Home court. The league’s best fourth-quarter record. And then the Atlanta Hawks made history.
The Hawks had trailed for the entire second half and were down 12 entering the fourth quarter. Atlanta chipped away, and a basket by CJ McCollum gave the Hawks a 101-100 lead — their first of the series in the second half — with 2:09 remaining. He made another for a three-point lead, and after Jalen Brunson tied it with a three-pointer, McCollum answered again to make it 105-103 with 33 seconds to play.
The final score: Hawks 107, Knicks 106. CJ McCollum led Atlanta with 32 points, including the go-ahead bucket with 34 seconds left. Jonathan Kuminga added 19 points and a key block off the bench, and Nickeil Alexander-Walker delivered some of the game’s most important defensive plays.
The series is now tied 1-1. Game 3 is Thursday in Atlanta, 7 p.m. ET on Prime Video.
The Collapse in Real Time
Atlanta shot a blistering 72.2% from the field in the fourth quarter and held New York to just 15 points in the final frame — the Knicks’ lowest-scoring fourth quarter of the season. The comeback was a statistical rarity. Entering Monday, road teams trailing by 10 or more points in the fourth quarter in playoff games during the shot clock era were just 31-1,296. The Hawks are now 32-1,296.
The Knicks had been 40-1 in the postseason since the advent of the shot clock in 1954-55 when leading by 12 or more after three quarters. The only prior loss came when Reggie Miller scored 25 points in the fourth for Indiana in Game 5 of the 1994 Eastern Conference Finals. Monday night at MSG just entered that same conversation.
The drama escalated with under two minutes remaining. A 22-9 run gave Atlanta a three-point lead, and then the chaos hit. Brunson answered with a quick three to tie it. McCollum came right back with a jumper. On the next possession, Brunson was forced into a desperation shot late in the clock — swatted away by Alexander-Walker — which led to a transition layup from Jalen Johnson that felt like the decisive blow.
McCollum then missed two free throws with 5.6 seconds remaining, leaving one final opening. The Knicks rushed up the court without any timeouts left, but Mikal Bridges’ jumper fell short as the buzzer sounded.
McCollum Becomes MSG’s Newest Villain
McCollum kept his team in the game when the Knicks threatened to pull away, scoring three critical baskets in the final 2:08, including a go-ahead step-back jumper over OG Anunoby. McCollum even drew profane chants from the MSG crowd — usually reserved for former Hawks guard Trae Young — after getting into a verbal back-and-forth with Knicks backup guard Jose Alvarado, leading to both receiving offsetting technical fouls in the third quarter.
McCollum was acquired from Washington in January as part of the Trae Young trade, and he filled the villain role Monday with precision. “I’m no villain, I’m a nice guy with two kids and a wife,” McCollum said afterward. “I think it’s admiration.”
He went on to say of the comeback: “It’s a long game. You got to play to zero.”
What Went Wrong for New York
Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns were off the floor together for approximately 11 critical minutes across the game, and when bench lineups struggled in the second and fourth quarters, Atlanta capitalized. Those no-Brunson/KAT units generated just one basket and three live-ball turnovers in a four-minute stretch early in the second quarter, when Atlanta went on a 13-3 run to close the gap.
Atlanta’s game plan was also pointed directly at Brunson defensively. The Hawks repeatedly ran McCollum and Alexander-Walker in screening actions to put the Knicks’ ball handler under pressure, forcing him to deal with physicality and size mismatches — primarily from Kuminga — in the possession sequence that ultimately decided the game.
Brunson’s ball-handling remains an area of concern on the defensive end. Too often in the series, the Hawks have gotten clean rolls to the basket without sufficient help from the weak side, a recurring breakdown the Knicks will need to address in Atlanta.
Brunson finished with 29 points and Karl-Anthony Towns added 18. Josh Hart had 15 points, 13 rebounds, and six assists. “This is a game we should have won,” Hart said.
Context: The Knicks Season and Postseason Stakes
New York enters the playoffs as the three-seed with 53 regular-season wins — their most since the 2012-13 season — and with first-year head coach Mike Brown, who has playoff experience that includes guiding Cleveland to the NBA Finals in 2007.
The Knicks are attempting to reach the second round for a fourth straight season, their longest such streak since the run from 1991-92 through 1999-2000. Last year’s run to the Eastern Conference Finals remains the program’s high-water mark of the modern era. The expectation around Madison Square Garden — after 53 wins, a new coach, and a roster built to compete — was a deeper run this spring.
One loss at home, however jarring the manner, does not upend that expectation. But how New York responds on the road in Atlanta on Thursday will say a great deal about the character and resilience of this particular group.
What to Watch in Game 3
The Knicks were the more efficient team in the regular season, posting a net rating of +6.6 compared to Atlanta’s +2.5. The Towns-Brunson combination averaged a combined 57.8 points against the Hawks in the regular season, and Towns shot 63% in those matchups. Atlanta has longer wings capable of contesting Towns at the arc, but inside the paint, the Knicks’ size remains a matchup problem the Hawks have not solved.
Atlanta finished fifth in the league in pace during the regular season, while New York ranked 25th. The Hawks want to push the tempo — a dynamic the Knicks will need to manage on the road, without the benefit of MSG’s energy to anchor their half-court execution.
Coach Mike Brown was measured in his assessment after the loss. “Down the stretch, we got some pretty good looks. We got the ball in the right players’ hands,” he said. “We just didn’t convert.”
Game 3 tips Thursday at 7 p.m. ET on Prime Video. Game 4 follows Saturday at 6 p.m. ET, also in Atlanta.
