Knicks Game Night: 2026 NBA Playoffs Round 1, Game 5 – NYK (2-2) vs. ATL (2-2); NBC, Peacock
All the Knicks needed to do this entire series was to get the ball to Karl-Anthony Towns. In Game 4 on Saturday, that is exactly what they did. Thanks to Towns’s first career playoff triple-double – a 20-point triple-double – the Knicks defeated Atlanta 114-98 to even up this first-round series.
Image Courtesy: New York Knicks
Momentum is a funny thing in a best-of-seven series, and the pendulum can swing on a dime. The Hawks had a strong fourth quarter in Game 2, and it translated in Game 3. Although the Knicks lost Game 3, they played an excellent second half, which led to their success on Saturday. The Knicks led by as many as 24 points in Game 4, and after a 27-20 first-quarter advantage, they never looked back.
The Knicks set the tone from the start, quickly dictating the pace and physicality of the game. They forced 11 first-half turnovers, including nine in the second quarter. They dominated the glass in the first half with an 11-rebound advantage. The best statistic of all: They allowed zero fastbreak points through the first three quarters.
This is what happens when the Knicks run their offense through Towns. In addition to his many accolades, including three-point shooting and rebounding, he is an elite passer. Towns recorded 10 rebounds, 10 assists, and 20 points on Saturday because he was at the forefront of the Knicks’ offensive game plan.
“Just trying to find different ways to get KAT the ball,” said head coach Mike Brown. “Obviously, one of those ways is playing through the elbow. A couple of post-ups. So, try to move him around, whether he’s at the top of the floor, or the elbow, or the block.”
Atlanta doesn’t have any players of comparable size to pin against Towns, so once he committed to driving to the basket, the Knicks found their rhythm. At its peak, a Towns-oriented Knicks offense looks something like this: Jalen Brunson dribbles the ball down the court and finds Towns down low. Brunson stays behind the arc, Mikal Bridges defends the opposite wing, and OG Anunoby waits at the low post.
Therefore, Towns, working out of the center, has many players to pass the basketball, but because he is also a scoring threat, the Hawks’ defense doesn’t know whom to cover. So, Towns can either pass the ball out to Brunson or Josh Hart, thread it down low to Anunoby, or drive to the cup himself.
Five Knicks players, including Miles McBride off the bench, scored in double figures on Saturday. Anunoby led the way with 22 points. The KAT-OG connection was strong throughout the game, and it threw off an Atlanta defense focused on double-teaming Brunson.
“What’s beautiful to me is when we play with pace, with spacing, there’s ball reversal, the ball touches everyone’s hand, and every decision we make is quick,” Brown said. “When we do all those things, I’m a happy camper.”
Throughout this series, Brown has been harshly criticized for his inability to get the ball to Towns, especially in the fourth quarter of Games 2 and 3. To Knicks fans like myself, it was very clear that a Brunson-oriented offense had become too predictable for Atlanta.
Because of defensive mismatches, Towns looked like a more viable scoring option, but limited shot production late in games was a byproduct of his coach’s unwillingness to deviate from Brunson.
Brown was also criticized for Bridges’s lack of production. From the start of the third quarter of Game 2 to the end of Game 3, he went scoreless from the field. I even said that if Brown had to substitute McBride for Bridges in the starting lineup.
But Brown didn’t change his primary lineup. He started the same five players he had started all series, and in most games this season. This time, it worked. Bridges scored eight points, but more importantly, his consistent presence and speed helped the Knicks maintain their ownership of the pace of this game. Bridges excelled at the little plays that don’t appear on the box score, like deflections, transition defense, and wing clogging.
“We’ve won a lot of games with the starting group,” Brown said. “I didn’t want to panic and just change anything. Obviously, we changed some stuff strategy-wise, but I didn’t want to change anything with the starting group because I didn’t feel a need to.”
That said, Bridges played 19 minutes, and he was benched midway through the third quarter. He never returned, with Brown citing McBride’s offensive success as the reason for the substitution. McBride scored 11 points off the bench, and he shot 3-for-6 from behind the line. Each of his 11 points came in the second half.
“At the end of the day, I just felt that [McBride] had it rolling,” Brown said. “They were gonna double [Brunson]. When they did, [McBride] hit some big threes. So, if a guy has it rolling, he may have a chance to stay out on the floor. That’s all it was.”
In his press conference yesterday, Brown discussed the changes he had to make throughout this series at the backup point guard position. He initially wanted Landry Shamet as his backup point guard, but after he struggled in Game 1, Brown switched to McBride. In Game 4, Jose Alvarado made the most of his time off the bench and helped the Knicks come back in the second half of Game 3, which they had no business “nearly winning.”
Alvarado was enamored with Towns’s triple-double, the sixth playoff triple-double in Knicks history. “He was being a quarterback,” Alvarado said. “Exactly what we talked about, of what he needs to be. We need that every time he’s out there.”
In Game 6 of last year’s Eastern Conference Semifinal matchup against Boston, Hart recorded the Knicks’ first playoff triple since Walt Frazier in 1972. Frazier also did it twice in 1970 and once in 1969. Dick McGuire was the only other Knicks player to record a playoff triple-double, in 1952 against the Syracuse Nationals.
The 53-year gap between Hart and Frazier’s triple-doubles is, for lack of a better word, insane. However, it is worth considering that the Knicks haven’t won a championship since 1973, 53 years ago. Amazingly, Towns’s triple-double came one year after Hart’s. So, maybe the Knicks are closer to the promised land than we thought.
“We understood that, in a pivotal game like tonight, we needed to be at our best,” Towns said. “I thought we not only met the challenge, but we exceeded the expectation in the moment.
“That’s what you expect from a team that has experience like us.”
This is why, for this entire series, I have said the Knicks’ only focus should be on themselves. When they play to their potential, they are better than the Hawks. Some nights, for whatever reason, the Knicks don’t click, then they come out for the next game and find their groove from the opening buzzer.
Now, the Knicks are more familiar with the Hawks. They know their schemes, but they also know their limits. However, these are the playoffs, and the Hawks will undoubtedly play tonight’s Game 5 with something to prove. The Knicks are at home and have momentum on their side, so they inherently have an advantage.
But the Knicks cannot forget the importance of winning tonight’s game, not just to themselves, but to their opponent. This has become a best-of-three series, so the last thing the Knicks need is to return to Atlanta fighting for their lives.
The Knicks need to win tonight. So do the Hawks.
Game Information
Teams: New York Knicks (RS: 53-29, 30-10 Home) vs. Atlanta Hawks (RS: 46-36, 22-19 Away)
Time: 8:00 PM (7:00 PM CDT)
Networks: NBC, Peacock (Pregame and Postgame on MSG, Gotham Sports)
Venue: Madison Square Garden — 4 Pennsylvania Plaza, New York, NY 10001
Monday Line: NYK -6.5 (ESPN Bet)
The Knicks are projected to win this game by 72.6% (ESPN Bet).
