The New York Knicks evened their best-of-seven first-round series with a convincing 114-98 win over the Atlanta Hawks on Saturday at State Farm Arena.

After dropping two straight games, New York responded in a big way behind Karl-Anthony Towns, who recorded a triple-double with 20 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists. It marked his first playoff triple-double, making him the fourth player in Knicks postseason history to have such a game, joining Walt Frazier, Dick McGuire and Josh Hart.

Jalen Brunson added 19 points, briefly exiting with an ankle injury in the third quarter before returning to finish the game, though he appeared somewhat limited. The Knicks had balanced production overall, with four starters scoring in double figures, including OG Anunoby, who led all scorers with 22 points while also grabbing 10 rebounds.

Atlanta struggled offensively throughout, shooting just 42.5 percent from the field and 21 percent from 3-point range. Turnovers also hurt them, as the Hawks coughed up the ball 18 times.

CJ McCollum led the Hawks with 17 points, while Most Improved Player Nickeil Alexander-Walker contributed 15. Atlanta now heads to Madison Square Garden looking to bounce back in Game 5, set for Tuesday.

Here are some takeaways from Game 4.

Brown shakes things up

After searching, searching and searching, Knicks coach Mike Brown may have found a rotation solution or two that works.

He didn’t end up benching Mikal Bridges, whose struggles this series have been well-documented, but he significantly reduced his minutes. Bridges finished with 19 minutes on 3-of-4 shooting in Game 4. Miles McBride played 23 minutes, and Jordan Clarkson played 21 minutes.

Both McBride and Clarkson were impactful in the blowout win off the bench. McBride, as he did in Game 3, knocked down multiple 3-pointers and provided some extra ballhandling alongside Brunson. Clarkson defended aggressively, which he’s been doing for the last few months, and also provided an extra set of handles. Brown even gave Alvarado a long leash, playing him 13 minutes after keeping him under single digits in the previous two games. There was no Landry Shamet until the game was out of reach and both teams emptied their benches. Until further notice, it appears that Brown is going to greatly reduce Bridges’ role and rely heavily on McBride and Clarkson until he gives them reasons not to.

Brown’s willingness to adapt on the fly is something that New York’s front office wanted in its next coach after firing Tom Thibodeau, and while it backfired at times in New York’s two losses this postseason, Brown pushed all the right buttons in Game 4. — James L. Edwards III

Hawks can’t get out and run

A merely cosmetic Dyson Daniels finger roll with five minutes to go Saturday spoiled the Knicks’ chase for something special. Forty-three minutes into the game, and New York — while down two games to one in a playoff series, while facing one of the NBA’s zippiest squads — had allowed zero fast-break points.

Atlanta notoriously feasts on turnovers. It sprints the other way after corralling long rebounds. But not Saturday. Not in Game 4, when the Hawks got into transition on only 13 percent of their possessions, far below their norm, per Cleaning the Glass, until both teams emptied their benches with three minutes remaining. The Knicks emerged with a different verve Saturday; Josh Hart, OG Anunoby and even Karl-Anthony Towns were keen on picking up their assignments and getting back. In turn, they took away Atlanta’s cushiest source of offense. Make the Hawks play out of the half court, and you have a better chance to bother them. And that’s exactly what the Knicks did. — Fred Katz

Johnson needs to step up

If the Hawks are going to beat the Knicks twice in the next three games to complete a first-round upset, they’re going to need a lot more from their All-Star. Jalen Johnson only had 14 points and three rebounds on 4-of-12 shooting in the Hawks’ resounding Game 4 defeat, and his defense wasn’t any better than his offense.

The unexpected emergence of CJ McCollum in the first three games of the series partly masked an underlying offensive issue for Atlanta — namely, that Johnson hasn’t been able to get cooking. He has struggled to free himself from OG Anunoby and Josh Hart in the half court, and his open-court exploits have been few and far between since the Knicks have cut off Atlanta’s running game, as Fred mentioned above.

If Johnson is going to be the linchpin of a playoff team for years to come, as Atlanta hopes, he has to be able to deliver in grimier half-court settings as well. In this series, it hasn’t happened. Across four games, Johnson is only averaging 19 points per game, and it’s been an inefficient 19.

Yes, there’s an element of unselfishness in his performance — Hawks coach Quin Snyder talked before the game about how Johnson, McCollum and Nickeil Alexander-Walker have toggled as lead options in the second half of the season, depending on matchups and game flow, and McCollum’s role has definitely ballooned given the favorable matchup for him.

Still, Johnson was the most primary of the three all season, leading the club in points, rebounds and assists. Aside from a few stretches in Game 3, it hasn’t felt that way at any point in the playoffs (he doesn’t lead the team in any of those three categories in the postseason). He’ll need to be a much more impactful performer if the Hawks hope to leave Madison Square Garden victorious in Game 5. — John Hollinger

Kuminga’s up-and-down continues

How Jonathan Kuminga goes, so do the Hawks.

Including the playoffs, Atlanta is 11-1 when Kuminga scores at least 10 points. In Game 3, he was a game-changer. His 23 points were his third-most in 20 games since becoming a Hawk.

In Game 4 though, the Hawks sorely missed Kuminga’s impact. He scored 10 points but shot 30 percent from the field. It was his worst shooting performance in almost a month (since March 27).

To keep up with the Knicks, Atlanta has to make 3s to make space for easy shots at the rim. The Hawks were 10-for-41 from 3 as a team, and Kuminga was 0-for-6. Their 21 percent shooting beyond the arc was their worst 3-point shooting game all season. — Shakeia Taylor