NBA playoffs: Knicks on the ropes against a Hawks team that is every bit their equal

The New York Knicks lost to the Atlanta Hawks, 109-108, on Thursday to go down 2-1 in their first-round series. All you are going to hear for the next few days is how the Knicks are choking. 

But I’ve got news for you. 

The Knicks aren’t choking. 

The Hawks are winning. 

The Knicks were the best fourth-quarter team in the league this year, and if they lose this series, they’re going to regret letting that 12-point lead get away in Game 2. But they got back to fourth-quarter business in Game 3, erasing an eight-point deficit to start the frame to take a three-point lead with a minute to play. 

It looked like they were going to survive but Jalen Johnson stuck with a stripped shot and went back up for a lay-in to cut the lead to one, the Knicks countered with a shot-clock violation on the other end and then, once again, CJ McCollum happened. 

Atlanta had the ball on the sideline with 16.4 seconds left and you could only wonder how quickly they would wait to shoot. Would they take it all the way down to the buzzer and go for a one-shot win? The Knicks put out their small lineup sans any bigs and Brunson, so it seemed like the play was to take some clock down and shoot with just enough time to get an offensive rebound and put-back if necessary. 

McCollum had other ideas. He took the inbound pass and headed straight for his elbow office, pulled up, and hit the go-ahead jumper with 12.7 ticks left.

I’ll be honest, I thought McCollum went too early. I get it. You want to make an offensive rebound viable, and if you miss, you can still foul the Knicks and be assured of no worse than a three-point deficit with possession (as long as you secure the free-throw rebound on a miss) for either a game-tying or game-winning shot on the other end (although three-point deficits usually just mean you’re going to get fouled intentionally). Still, giving Brunson that much time on the other end felt like playing with fire. 

But it turned out the Hawks were the ones doing the burning as Brunson struggled to even get the ball in his hands. Once he did, Onyeka Okongwu did a spectacular job of cutting off his angle to the hoop and pressing him against the baseline, making way for Jonathan Kuminga to fly down into a double team. Next thing you knew, Brunson was having to basically bowl a pass to Josh Hart (who actually was open) that didn’t connect and that was that. Clock runs out. Hawks win.

The Knicks have one day to regroup for Game 4 on Saturday, which suddenly feels like a must-win against a Hawks team that is proving to be every bit their equal, if not even a little better. This is a team that won 19 of its last 24 games. A lot of those wins came against tanking teams, so it was a little hard to know how much stock to put in that stretch. But the Hawks were, and are, clearly a good team, and the fact is that the Knicks are the same. A good team. Not a great one. They’re in a 50-50 series, and right now the coin isn’t flipping their way. 

The Hawks deserve most of the credit for that. They are playing intense defense. Nothing is coming easy on the front or back end of possessions. They’re pressuring the ball. Protecting the rim. Their hands are all over the place. 

Dyson Daniels is struggling to score this series, but he has 26 rebounds, 19 assists and eight steals through three games. He’s negating the margin that Josh Hart usually provides for the Knicks in a similar gray-areas role. What are you supposed to do with this kind of defense?

Here’s Daniels again refusing to be screened off the ball and swiping a pass from behind to ignite a break on the other end.

Who’s that finishing said break? Oh, that’s Jonathan Kuminga, the trade deadline pickup who has been so good through the last two games (40 points on 61.5% shooting) that Quin Snyder has closed with him over Daniels. It’s a smart move. With five shooters on the floor (Daniels is a terrible 3-point shooter), Snyder has made sure McCollum has maximum space to work one-on-one. And he has certainly taken advantage. 

On the other side, Mike Brown hasn’t fared so well. He played relatively heavy minutes with both Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns on the bench in Games 1 and 2. In Game 2, it cost him a nine-point second-quarter lead. He abandoned the non-Brunson/Towns lineups in the first half of Game 3, but went right back to it to start the fourth quarter. He only stuck with it for two and a half minutes because it’s clear the Knicks cannot create any sort of consistent offense without either of them on the floor. 

That said, Towns and Brunson have to be better. Towns’ numbers look good and when he’s been aggressive, he’s been highly effective, but he hasn’t been aggressive consistently enough. He has two points total over the last two fourth quarters. Brunson is shooting 42% and getting absolutely cooked on the defensive end. He’s capable of playing better, certainly, but the defense is what it is and McCollum is just flat out beating him. 

Meanwhile, Mikal Bridges posted a bagel in Game 3. He’s 8 for 22 in this series. Brown only played him 21 minutes on Thursday and benched him in closing time, and rightfully so. Miles McBride is a far better option right now. The bottom line is the Hawks are just playing better. They’re winning the defensive, shot-making and coaching battle. It’s close. The series isn’t over. But the Knicks are officially in a fight with a team that is every bit as good as them, if not better.