Heading into the season, the New York Knicks were one of the biggest favorites to come out of the Eastern Conference, while the conversation surrounding the Atlanta Hawks was whether it was time to blow it up.
Five months and a Trae Young trade later, and these two teams are now embroiled in the most must-see series of the first round.
On Saturday, the Knicks will look to avoid falling into what would be a catastrophic 3-1 hole, while CJ McCollum and the Hawks aim to repeat their late-game heroics from Games 2 and 3.
Meanwhile, through the first three games of the playoffs, no team has more reason to panic than the Denver Nuggets.
After a decisive Game 1 victory in which Anthony Edwards did not look fully healthy, all of a sudden the Minnesota Timberwolves have taken back-to-back games off the 2023 NBA Champions, and threaten to take a 3-1 lead before the series returns to Denver.
News of Aaron Gordon’s injury broke late Thursday ahead of Game 3, and after his absence was felt massively in a blowout Nuggets loss, his status is now up in the air for Game 4.
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Rundown: After McCollum took over Game 2 in the clutch and followed it up with a game-winner in Game 3, the vibes in the New York locker room could not be worse if you read into head coach Mike Brown’s latest quote to the media.
“Plenty of teams have been down 1-2,” Brown said. “Sh*t I even think OKC was down 1-2 last year and they ended up winning it––I'm not saying we're gonna win it or anything like that.”
While the head coach’s belief or lack thereof should not inspire any bets on New York winning the title, the frustration surrounding the Knicks as a whole undersells their chances of still coming out of this series.
Not much at all has gone right for New York through three games, yet both Atlanta victories required multiple late-game gaffes by the Knicks and incredibly clutch shot-making from McCollum.
Despite the Hawks not having the requisite size to guard Karl-Anthony Towns, New York’s offensive ballhandlers have struggled to feed him the ball, as the All-Star big has averaged just over 12 shots per game in the series.
Additionally, Mikal Bridges has gone MIA in this series, and his zero-point, minus-26 performance in Game 3 surely means we’ll see more minutes for Miles McBride going forward, as the reserve guard dropped five threes in the Knicks’ most recent loss.
But above all else, New York’s biggest problem in this series has been its inability to hide All-NBA guard Jalen Brunson on defense.
When it gets late in the fourth quarter, McCollum is looking for one man to hunt, and it's led to great success for Atlanta.
Brown finally adjusted in the second half of Game 3 by putting Josh Hart on McCollum as the primary defender, and while the former Portland Trail Blazer still ultimately hit the game-winner in the fourth quarter, he was held to 2-for-5 shooting when guarded by Hart.
There are simply too many adjustments for the Knicks to make, whether it be defensive assignments, fewer minutes for Bridges and more touches for Towns, for them to fall down 3-1 in this series.
Regardless of the result, this series is destined to go at least six games, if not seven, and should head to New York knotted at 2-2.
Second Pick: Denver Nuggets -1 over Minnesota Timberwolves
Apr 23, 2026; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic (15) goes to the basket against Minnesota Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert (27) in the third quarter at Target Center.