‘You just can’t give games away:’ How the Knicks collapsed against the Hawks — and what they need to clean up

NEW YORK — Mike Brown tried to make it as clear as he could: The reason to win Game 2 wasn’t “to protect home court,” or “to avoid losing momentum,” or “to prevent his New York Knicks from stepping on the same rake that Tom Thibodeau’s version did against the Heat in 2023, or against the Pistons and the Pacers last year.” It was a little simpler than that. A little more … Herm Edwards-y.

“It really doesn’t matter, to me, that we’re home or on the road,” Brown said during his pregame press conference on Monday night. “We want to win the freakin’ game because that’s the next game in front of us. And it’s extremely important to try to go attack it that way, and that’s how we’re going to attack it.”

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For most of the first three quarters, the Knicks did attack it that way.

New York’s starting five — which had been outscored since February’s trade deadline, and whose relative ineffectiveness has been a point of contention for these Knicks across two years and two head coaches — was controlling the terms of engagement against an Atlanta starting lineup that had been one of the league’s best since coming together after the All-Star break. The Knicks were leaning on the Hawks, with centers Karl-Anthony Towns and Mitchell Robinson (and energizer guard Jordan Clarkson, who just sort of became an offensive rebounding force over the final 25 games of the season) leveraging their size advantage over Atlanta’s shorter bigs to pull in 10 offensive rebounds through three quarters — a whopping 50% offensive rebounding rate that led to 22 second-chance points.

Jalen Brunson and the Knicks head to Atlanta with the series tied 1-1. (Brad Penner-Imagn Images)

(IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect / REUTERS)

Josh Hart was contributing his customary energetic all-around work — rebounding, facilitating, pushing the pace — while continuing to play in-your-jersey defense on Hawks All-Star Jalen Johnson, who’d scored a quiet 11 points on eight shots through three quarters. Mikal Bridges, forever wearing the five-first-round-picks millstone around his neck whenever he…

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Author : Dan Devine

Publish date : 2026-04-21 21:29:00

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