The Hawks didn’t run much or take care of the ball well. Point forward Jalen Johnson struggled to get to his spots. Their bench players couldn’t make a 3-point shot.
The Knicks wouldn’t let the Hawks play their game. They still had a chance to win at the end. The Hawks lost because of some bad possessions under duress and their inability to prevent Knicks star Jalen Brunson from making winning plays on his own.
The Knicks escaped State Farm Arena with a 108-105 victory after CJ McCollum’s basket from beyond halfcourt came just after the buzzer. The Hawks learned something while losing a game that had playoff intensity.
“This is like a lesson,” Hawks guard Nickeil Alexander-Walker said after scoring a game-high 36 points. “It’s good for us be battle-tested headed for the postseason. That’s a good team.
“Now we know how much better we can be. And we know their strengths, they know ours, and it’s how do we make an adjustment should we meet in the playoffs.”
There’s a chance that could happen if the Hawks clinch a playoff spot.
The Hawks (45-34) stand fifth in the Eastern Conference. The Knicks (51-28) are third. They’ll meet in the first round if the Knicks slip behind the Cavs (50-29) or the Hawks finish behind the Sixers (43-36).
It’s more likely that the Hawks will face the Cavs. That’s a less-favorable matchup for the Hawks, who showed they can hang with the Knicks.
Alexander-Walker gave the Knicks fits. They tried using bigger defenders on him, but Alexander-Walker beat them with speed and slithering moves. The Knicks kept switching smaller players on to Johnson. He made them pay with swooping scores in the paint.
The Hawks mostly beat struggling and losing teams for five weeks. They earned relatively easy victories over Boston and Orlando last week. The Knicks tested the Hawks, who passed it for much of the night.
Then things got harder at winning time. Johnson didn’t react well when New York’s defenders wrestled with him on the perimeter and cut off his drives. The Knicks allowed Alexander-Walker less room to work.
“Down the stretch, I thought their physicality played a role with our execution,” Hawks coach Quin Snyder said. “We’ve been good in those situations. Tonight was a little different game. We haven’t been in a lot of (close) possession games like that.”
The Hawks squandered a five-point lead with three minutes to go. They still can take some positives from the closest game they’ve played since winning 130-129 at Detroit in overtime on March 25.
Brunson needed 26 shots to score 30 points. The Hawks collected 19 offensive rebounds against the bigger and stronger Knicks. That helped to offset New York’s 52-34 edge in paint scoring. Knicks big man Karl-Anthony Towns (21 points, 12 rebounds) did a lot of damage around the basket.
Towns was hard for the Hawks to deal with because they don’t have much size on their front line. Snyder has done good work turning them into a roving gang of rebounders. His players constantly talk about “crashing” the boards to earn extra possessions and limit second-chance points for opponents.
The Hawks showed how that works against the Knicks.
They grabbed 12 offensive rebounds in the first half, spread among seven players, while scoring 10 second-chance points. That edge helped the Hawks take a 57-53 lead into halftime despite the Knicks shooting 15 of 21 on 2-pointers (71%).
The Hawks needed to tighten their defense to change that trend. The Knicks were punishing them with pick-and-rolls. Scoring got harder for the Knicks after halftime, when the Hawks led by as many as 10 points.
Alexander-Walker’s 3-pointer in transition gave the Hawks a 97-92 lead with 3:45 to go. Brunson answered with a three-point play before Alexander-Walker missed on a tough driving shot.
Then Brunson made a 3-pointer, stole the ball from McCollum, and scored a fast-break basket to put the Knicks ahead 102-100. McCollum quickly answered with a floater. After Alexander-Walker missed a 3-pointer under pressure, Brunson made a step-back jumper to put the Knicks ahead for good.
Johnson’s driving attempt in traffic fell short. McCollum’s desperation shot was too late. The many Knicks fans in the building left happy. Hawks supporters couldn’t be too mad.
“The atmosphere I would definitely say it felt like a playoff game,” Alexander-Walker said. “I’ve been in a quite a few. I’m just really proud that like, for whatever the experience is on the team, how everyone handled it and their focus and approach in trying to win the game.
“Yeah, we didn’t win, but there’s a lesson to it.”
It will help the Hawks whether they face the Knicks or Cavs in the playoffs.
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