Hawks defense stands strong, downs Knicks to take 2-1 lead in series

“I think (we) guarded multiple actions and helped each other too, but didn’t foul,” Hawks coach Quin Snyder said. “That was a huge part of that, O (Onyeka Okongwu) showed his hands. JK (Jonathan Kuminga) pursued Dyson (Daniels), got knocked down and got back up, shifted and made it congested. A lot of good things happened on the possession from those kind of all five guys did their jobs.”

Quick stats: Jalen Johnson looked assertive early, finishing with 24 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists. CJ McCollum had 23 points and five rebounds. Kuminga had 21 points off the bench.

Knicks wing OG Anunoby led all scorers with 29 points. Jalen Brunson scored 26 points, while Karl-Anthony Towns scored 21 and had 17 rebounds.

Key moment

The Knicks wouldn’t go away, especially with Anunoby and Miles “Deuce” McBride hitting timely 3s that tied the game at 105 with 1:41 to play.

Then Brunson got a switch onto McCollum, and he pulled up for a bucket and drew a foul to give the Knicks a 108-105 lead.

But the Hawks brought the game back within one off a Johnson driving layup. Then they put up 24 seconds of strong defense, forcing a Knicks turnover on a shot-clock violation before calling a timeout with 16.4 to play.

The Hawks drew up a play that got McCollum open for a midrange jumper, putting them up 109-108 with 12.5 to play.

Though the Hawks left a lot of time on the clock, Snyder trusted his defense. The Hawks forced the Knicks to dribble out the clock, all without fouling. They forced a turnover into the backcourt to seal the win.

Highlight play

Onyeka Okongwu had a quieter game offensively early in the action on Thursday. But the offensive plays he made popped and sent fans in the arena out of their seat.

With 5:01 to play in the second quarter, Okongwu got up in the air after a missed 3-pointer and slammed it down with one hand. He blew by Mitchell Robinson to get to the rim for the finish.

What they said

“I saw Dyson fall to the ground, and I just beelined right to Brunson, and I’m like, ‘have to get the stop.’ And shout out JK, coming upside and making a play on the ball.” -- Okongwu on the final defensive stand.

“It’s just everyone’s on a string. Everyone’s playing for each other. I still think throughout the game we can do better with rotating, especially taking away layups. I think we take away the 3-point line, but we got to be early on the layups, but it’s a little thing we can work on. But overall, our guys are really flying around, having each other’s back, shifting for each other.” -- Daniels on the Hawks’ connected defense.

“It’s the playoffs, obviously, just still trying to adjust to it, still learning. Obviously (I’m) going back to watch the film, obviously trying to master physicality. I did a better job of doing that tonight. So just got to continue to stay strong, play low, and just continue to try to play through all that.” -- Johnson on adjusting to the physicality of the playoffs.

“This is exactly what I envisioned, playing a home game in the playoffs, a hostile environment (for the Knicks). For us as a kid, we always envisioned being able to play in big moments and being able to really test out our skillset...” -- McCollum on playing in front of the State Farm Arena fans.

Up next

The Hawks host the Knicks on Saturday for Game 4. They head back to Madison Square Garden for Game 5 after they forced the extension of the series with their win in Game 2.