Game Recap: 2026 NBA Playoffs Round 1, Game 1 – NYK vs. ATL; W; ATL: 102, NYK: 113
Knicks, Knicks, and Knicks. That was the Garden last night because the Knicks had their way with the Atlanta Hawks for the entire game. Thanks to a few extended scoring runs made possible by Mitchell Robinson’s defense, Jalen Brunson’s offense, and Josh Hart’s double-double, the Knicks took Game 1 from the Hawks, 113-102.
The Garden crowd was ready hours before the opening tip. It was clear they had been waiting a full season for the playoffs. This regular season served, mainly, as training for moments like last night. Things started great in the first quarter, as Brunson scored 19 points to propel the Knicks, who had struggled in the first quarter for much of the regular season.
“He stepped up to the plate,” said head coach Mike Brown, who earned his first career playoff win with the Knicks. “He hit some big shots for us early to help us get out front, and anytime he gets going, it’s always a big positive for us.”
However, across the next 36 minutes, Brunson scored just one field goal. That’s right, one. He finished the game with 28 points, but seven of them came from the free-throw line. None of that mattered, though.
Brunson’s struggles down the stretch were simply a testament to two things: Atlanta’s effective defense, especially Dyson Daniels, who recorded the second-most steals in the NBA this season, and Brunson’s teammates’ ability to fill in for him. Nobody supported Brunson better than Karl-Anthony Towns, who was anything but Kitten Towns last night.
“We feel we have capable guys,” Brown said. We feel like the team is deep, and anybody can get going at any time. For us, it’s about sacrificing and not worrying about shots, minutes, or anything like that. Just trying to do what you can to help the team win, and when you have a guy like [Brunson] not getting as many shots as most people think, just keep trying to find ways to contribute.”
Towns scored 25 points and added eight rebounds, but he didn’t score a single point in the opening frame; he didn’t net his first points until the final five minutes of the first half. He also blocked three shots in the game, a testament to the improved defensive skills he showed down the stretch of the regular season. But for most of the first half, it felt like the Knicks were due for another Kitten Towns performance.
But Towns was physical, and he never backed down from a possession. He won the battle against the 6-foot-10 Onyeka Okongwu, who lacked the strength needed to stop him. After all, nobody can stop a fearless Jungle KAT. A Kitten, like in last year’s playoffs – maybe. But not this version of Towns. This Jungle KAT eats Hawks for breakfast.
“We did a great job as a team. Just fighting, continuing to find ways to score, and impact winning,” Towns said.
There were only two things in this game that concerned me. The first was OG Anunoby’s twisted left ankle. He hurt it in the 81st game of the regular season, and he rolled it again yesterday. But he came right back onto the floor, shaking it off to score 18 points alongside eight rebounds. He also led all Knicks starters with a +9 rating.
“It’s okay,” an indestructible Anunoby observed. “I just rolled it. It just happened.”
That makes you smile and laugh. Maybe I only have one concern now. During the second quarter yesterday, Atlanta’s CJ McCollum was assessed a traveling violation and a technical foul for kicking Brunson in the midsection. After the game, McCollum adamantly claimed Brunson was faking the injury.
“I shot a jumper, and Jalen thought we were at a Broadway show,” McCollum said, angrily. “He acted it out until they reviewed it. It’s a normal jump shot. Nothing there. Unnecessary. I look forward to getting my $2,500 [fine] back.”
It is clear that McCollum, who led the Hawks with 26 points yesterday, will return to Game 2 with a vengeance. Nevertheless, the video footage suggested his foot did, in fact, make contact with Brunson’s midsection.
“It wasn’t purposeful, so we move forward,” Brunson said.
Next, Miles McBride deserves tremendous credit for his contributions off the bench. After missing 28 games recovering from hernia surgery in February, McBride got off to a slow start. Yesterday, he was missing three-pointers by wide margins, but he finished the game with six points – two made threes – and a team-high +12 rating.
“That was huge for us, especially at a time when we weren’t scoring,” Brown said. “Luckily, we were playing good defense, holding them, and keeping them from scoring, and then he knocked a couple down for us.”
McBride’s high rating was critical for the Knicks, especially in the fourth quarter, when he was a +7. The Knicks led Atlanta by 19 points with 3:14 remaining in the final frame, but the Hawks embarked on an 11-0 run. With 1:39 left, the Knicks found themselves with just an eight-point lead, thanks to a long three-pointer by Nickeil Alexander-Walker.
Atlanta did something similar to start the second quarter, which prompted Brown to use McBride. The Knicks grabbed an early 11-point lead, but Atlanta went on a 19-8 run to tie the game, and at the halftime buzzer, Okongwu nailed a triple, putting Atlanta within two points of the Knicks.
But New York only permitted eight field goals in the third quarter. In the fourth quarter, after Atlanta cut the deficit to eight points, Jalen Johnson missed from distance, and Towns disrupted his team’s run with a layup. Alexander-Walker responded with a dunk, but then Hart drew contact and made both of his free throws.
“We did a nice job in the second half with our transition defense,” Brown said. “We’ve got to keep getting better there. Their small-small pick-and-roll also is a problem, and our guys did a pretty good job defending that the right way in the second half.
“It kind of got away from us early in the game, and they got some open looks from it, but our level of physicality, without fouling, was really good in the second half.”
Hart led the Knicks with five fourth-quarter rebounds, part of his double-double, which featured 11 points and 14 boards.
“I think we brought it from the jump,” Hart said. “I don’t think we allowed them time to settle into the game. We played with physicality from the jump, and I felt like we handled their physicality well. That’s a tough team, a well-coached team.”
McCollum made it an eight-point game again with 34.7 seconds left in regulation, but Brunson drew contact and visited the line. Because Towns was on the court late in the fourth quarter, the Hawks couldn’t use the “Hack-A-Mitch” strategy — all the more reason to commend Towns’ late offensive awakening.
Overall, as gritty as Atlanta was down the stretch, they never regained the lead the Knicks took in the first quarter. They tied the game a couple of times, but it was never enough. The Knicks hope to continue dominating the Hawks in Game 2, which will be played at the Garden tomorrow at 8 PM (7 PM CDT) (NBC, Peacock).
Image Courtesies: New York Knicks
