{"id":202446,"date":"2026-04-19T09:55:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-19T09:55:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/202446\/"},"modified":"2026-04-19T09:55:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T09:55:13","slug":"knicks-hawks-game-1-no-letdown-in-new-york-as-fresh-playoff-run-begins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/202446\/","title":{"rendered":"Knicks-Hawks Game 1: No letdown in New York as fresh playoff run begins"},"content":{"rendered":"

The New York Knicks defeat the Atlanta Hawks, 113-102, to take a 1-0 series lead. Jalen Brunson leads the Knicks with 28 points.<\/p>\n

NEW YORK \u2013\u00a0For a brief moment, Game 1 the first-round series<\/a> between the New York Knicks and Atlanta Hawks felt a little like the last Game 1 in this building, when the Indiana Pacers came back from 17 points down with a little more than six minutes left in regulation to stun the Knicks in overtime.<\/p>\n

This time, the Knicks\u2019 lead was bigger (19), there was less time (less than four minutes) left, and the Hawks\u2019 ran out of magic after a 10-0 run that cut their deficit to single digits. The Knicks got the one stop they didn\u2019t get in last year\u2019s conference finals and held on for a 113-102 victory<\/a> at Madison Square Garden on Saturday.<\/p>\n

Jalen Brunson (28 points and seven assists) and Karl-Anthony Towns (25 points, eight rebounds and three blocks) led the way for the Knicks. The difference in the final score was at the free throw line, where the New York outscored Atlanta, 25-12.<\/p>\n

Here are some notes, quotes, numbers and film from a somewhat comfortable Knicks win:<\/p>\n

1. Depth favors the Knicks<\/p>\n

For the second straight year, the Knicks\u2019 starting lineup was solid, but not great, outscoring opponents by just 2.3 points per 100 possessions<\/a> in its 541 regular-season minutes. But New York had the league\u2019s third-ranked bench<\/a>. And bench minutes were critical on Saturday.<\/p>\n

The Hawks led by one late in the first quarter, but the Knicks took control with a 13-1 run spanning the first and second, capped by an end-to-end sequence<\/a> where a Mitchell Robinson block led to a Jordan Clarkson tip dunk. The Hawks would never lead after that.<\/p>\n

The Hawks tried to take advantage of Clarkson\u2019s defense as soon as he stepped onto the floor, but that strategy didn\u2019t bear much fruit<\/a>. Instead, he gave the Knicks some punch offensively, scoring eight points in less than 12 minutes.<\/p>\n

Robinson didn\u2019t grab a single offensive rebound on Saturday, but the Hawks remembered how important he was in the Knicks\u2019 win in Atlanta two weeks earlier, and after an effective first-half stint, they strategized to get him off the floor as soon as he checked back in midway through the third quarter. They intentionally fouled him on two straight possessions and, after he went 1-for-4 on the free throws, Knicks coach Mike Brown was forced to take him out of the game.<\/p>\n

That altered the Knicks\u2019 rotation, and it had both Brunson and Towns off the floor at the start of the fourth. But the Hawks couldn\u2019t take advantage, scoring just two points on their first four possessions of the final period. On the other end of the floor, Clarkson and Robinson hooked up for a pick-and-roll lob<\/a> and Miles McBride drained a transition 3<\/a> to put the Knicks up 12.<\/p>\n

Because their bench held it down, the Knicks\u2019 stars didn\u2019t have to play huge minutes; Brunson played a little more than 36, while Towns played less than 33.<\/p>\n

The Hawks\u2019 bench couldn\u2019t keep up. Gabe Vincent and Jonathan Kuminga didn\u2019t provide enough offensively to make up for their lack of resistance on the other end. Zaccharie Risacher had a rough three minutes in the first half and didn\u2019t play after that. And Mouhamed Gueye doesn\u2019t have the size to hang with Robinson and Towns inside.<\/p>\n

2. Knicks look like a top-10 defense<\/p>\n

The Knicks were one of six teams<\/a> that ranked in the top 10 on both ends of the floor this season, with their defensive success being a little bit of a surprise, given the issues that Brunson and Towns have had on that end of the floor over the years. They actually ranked fourth<\/a> defensively (only the Thunder, Celtics and Spurs allowed fewer points per 100 possessions) over the last 11 weeks.<\/p>\n

While they never trailed after the first quarter, the Knicks really took control in the third, when they held Atlanta to just 19 points on 24 possessions. The Hawks shot 8-for-23, while committing five turnovers in the period. There were some rough moments<\/a> from Dyson Daniels, but the Knicks were also able to deny Atlanta\u2019s primary ball-handlers on the perimeter while still collapsing in the paint:<\/p>\n

\"Josh<\/p>\n

The Hawks had one sequence in the third quarter where the ball and bodies were moving, but even then, the Knicks were able to clog the paint and force a tough shot:<\/p>\n

\"Jalen<\/p>\n

\u201cThe formula for us and our identity has been to run and move the ball,\u201d Hawks coach Quin Snyder said afterward. \u201cIt\u2019s not like we didn\u2019t do that, but we need to do more of it.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we can\u2019t get to the rim, [we need to] get out and get more 3s.\u201d<\/p>\n

Atlanta was a solid 14-for-37 (38%) from 3-point range in Game 1, but shot below 50% (21-for-43) in the paint for just the 15th time this season. The last two occasions have come against the Knicks, who are responsible for three of the Hawks\u2019 12 worst shot-quality scores of the season, according to tracking data.<\/p>\n

3. Getting Daniels off of Brunson<\/p>\n

Daniels was first-team All-Defense last year and is a candidate for the same honor this year. Not surprisingly, he was the primary defender on Brunson. But only two of Brunson\u2019s 22 field goal attempts came with Daniels on him.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s one thing to start a possession guarding the other team\u2019s star. It\u2019s another to stay there throughout the entire trip down the floor. And the Knicks did a good job on Saturday of getting Daniels off of Brunson, who was more comfortable attacking other Atlanta defenders.<\/p>\n

Brunson did some of the work himself, making a little like Stephen Curry, moving without the ball and using bodies to free himself:<\/p>\n

\"Jalen<\/p>\n

A Josh Hart back-screen got a switch onto CJ McCollum:<\/p>\n

\"Jalen<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t Brunson\u2019s most efficient scoring night (28 points, 9-for-22 from the field, 7-for-8 from the line), but the Hawks would probably like to do a better job of keeping their best defender attached to him going forward.<\/p>\n

4. Make him work on defense<\/p>\n

The Hawks may also want to attack Brunson a little more on the other end of the floor. Over their four games against the Knicks, the guy that Brunson was defending has set just 20 total screens for Jalen Johnson.<\/p>\n

The seven screens that Brunson\u2019s man set for Johnson on Saturday was the most in those four games, but probably not enough. Two of those came in the last 2 1\/2 minutes of the fourth quarter, after the game was essentially over.<\/p>\n

Johnson isn\u2019t the off-the-dribble shooter that other stars are, so Hart was smart to go under the first of those screens and get back in front of his man:<\/p>\n

\"CJ<\/p>\n

But the Hawks made no second-efforts with that action, coming back with another screen and forcing Hart to work more. They had some possessions<\/a> that weren\u2019t purposeful enough.<\/p>\n

They\u2019ll need to be better offensively in Game 2 on Monday (8 ET, NBC\/Peacock<\/a>) or they\u2019ll be facing an 0-2 deficit.<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

John Schuhmann has covered the NBA for more than 20 years. You can e-mail him\u00a0here<\/a>, find his\u00a0archive here\u00a0<\/a>and\u00a0follow him on Bluesky.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The New York Knicks defeat the Atlanta Hawks, 113-102, to take a 1-0 series lead. Jalen Brunson leads…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":202447,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[80219,9,24,55,54,56],"class_list":{"0":"post-202446","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-city","8":"tag-knicks-hawks-game-1","9":"tag-new-york","10":"tag-new-york-city","11":"tag-new-york-city-headlines","12":"tag-new-york-city-news","13":"tag-ny"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202446","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=202446"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202446\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/202447"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=202446"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=202446"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=202446"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}