ATLANTA — The Knicks had fought and scrapped from behind all night long, given up for dead among the celebrations at State Farm Arena. And somehow, they came all the way back to take a lead with just over a minute left, their first one since the opening minutes of the game.
And, clinging to that one-point lead, they put the ball in Jalen Brunson’s hands one more time. But with 16.6 seconds left, after he was the one who had given them the lead, Brunson lofted the sort of shot he’d hit so many times, but this time it fluttered out of bounds, an airball, giving the Hawks back the ball and hope.
C.J. McCollum, who’d buried the Knicks Monday in New York, calmly drained an elbow jumper with 12.5 seconds left to put the Knicks down one. Out of a timeout, the Knicks put the ball in Brunson’s hands again and this time he drove along the baseline, but without a crack of daylight, he tried to pass it to Josh Hart in the lane. But the ball rolled helplessly toward midcourt and the Knicks fell, 109-108, to the Hawks, falling into a two games to one hole in the series.
Brunson had 26 points, but had to fight for every one again as the Hawks worked to blanket him with long-armed defenders. OG Anunoby delivered heroic shots down the stretch and led the Knicks with 29 points. Karl-Anthony Towns had 21 points and 17 rebounds. But Mikal Bridges was invisible — and benched most of the second half — as he finished without a point in 21 minutes — 0-for-3 with four turnovers.
McCollum finished with 23 points, just seven after halftime. But the Hawks got a boost off the bench from Jonathan Kuminga, who had 21 points.
The Knicks kept stumbling but somehow staying alive. Towns drove and had his shot blocked, but Anunoby recovered the loose ball, turned in the corner with the shot clock about to hit zero and somehow buried a three over Hawks defenders to bring the Knicks within 101-99 with 3:50 to play.
Jalen Johnson misfired on a three, but Brunson missed a shot in the lane and Hart was called for a fouland it was Atlanta ball with 3:07 remaining. McCollum finally shook Hart, who had slowed him in the second half, and dropped in an elbow jumper to give the Hawks a sliver of breathing room.
Anunoby buried another buzzer-beating three with 2:33 remaining and the Knicks were within 103-102. Finally, after a Johnson drive, McBride tied the score, 105-105 with 1:41 left. Towns blocked a McCollum drive and Brunson delivered the go-ahead bucket, scoring inside as a he was fouled by McCollum, the three-point play with the Knicks a 108-105 lead with 1:03 left.
From the very start the Knicks just looked like they weren’t ready to play and certainly not ready to match the intensity and physicality of the Hawks. In the opening four minutes the Knicks had three turnovers and Hart saved them from two of them, hustling to recover the ball — including one off a lazy inbounds pass from Brunson where Hart knocked the ball loose, dove across the floor to grab it, fought off two Hawks trying to tie him up and from the ground fed the ball ahead to Anunoby for a fast break dunk.
But the sloppiness kept coming and the Knicks stopped recovering them, falling behind by as many as 18 points — Atlanta reaching that gap with 3:46 to play in the first half when McCollum delivered another three-point field goal over Brunson while Anunoby was called for a loose ball foul under the rim, Nickeil Alexander-Walker converting the free throw for a four-point possession and a 56-38 lead.
The Knicks took that punch though and somehow staggered back to their feet. Brown threw out some of the rotations he’d used and in the final minutes of the half had Jordan Clarkson and Deuce McBride paired with Hart, Brunson and Towns and with McBride draining a pair of threes the Knicks were able to close the gap to 58-50 at the half.
“At this point in time, you gotta be open to anything and everything,” Brown said before the game. “As you guys know, it’s never a dictatorship with me. I’m constantly thinking about it as well as everybody else that’s involved, my assistant, I even give the players some ownership.”
“I think he’s been great in making sure we’re in the right positions to be successful,” Brunson said in the. Morning. “It’s just on us to execute them.”
The Knicks also tinkered with the defensive assignments, putting Hart on McCollum to start the second half after the 34-year-old point guard had scored 16 first-half points, mostly targeting Brunson again. With Hart on him McCollum was 0-for-3 with just a pair of free throws in seven minutes in the third. But the Knicks still couldn’t get any closer.
Brown continued to experiment with lineups in the third quarter. After the Knicks scored first, Atlanta ran off an 11-2 burst to quickly up the lead to 69-54 just 2:12 into the second half. Brown pulled Mikal Bridges — who was 0-for-3 with three turnovers and a —22 in 18 minutes — and inserted McBride. The Knicks quickly cut into the lead, drawing as close as four. But they still were down 88-80 entering the fourth quarter.
Atlanta coach Quin Snyder was not orchestrating a game plan that had the Knicks frustrated, but he also won a pair of coach’s challenges — one late in the third quarter on a Hart drive to the basket that was originally called a foul on Kuminga and then early in the fourth on a McCollum foul on a McBride jumper, wiping out a potential four points from the line.
Brown went without Towns and Brunson to start the fourth but with the Knicks down 92-82 just 2:33 into the quarter, he sent them back and yanked Bridges — who had committed a fourth turnover.
New York drew within four again and forced a turnover, but as McBride dove on the ball he was tied up and lost the jump, Atlanta scoring on the other end to push the margin back to 98-92. Brunson scored on a driving layup with 5:33 remaining to make a one-possession game for the first time since 11-9 midway through the first quarter. But the Knicks twice turned the ball over and a Kuminga layup pushed the Hawks lead back to 101-96.
KNICKS VS. HAWKS SCHEDULE
Game 1: Knicks 113, Hawks 102
Game 2: Hawks 107, Knicks 106
Game 3: New York at Atlanta, Thursday at 7 p.m. on Prime Video
Game 4: New York at Atlanta, Saturday at 6 p.m. on NBC
Game 5: Atlanta at New York, Tuesday, April 28
Game 6: New York at Atlanta, Thursday, April 30*
Game 7: Atlanta at New York, Saturday, May 2*
* if necessary
Steve Popper covers the Knicks for Newsday. He has spent nearly three decades covering the Knicks and the NBA, along with just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.