{"id":715193,"date":"2026-04-21T13:54:30","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T13:54:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/715193\/"},"modified":"2026-04-21T13:54:30","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T13:54:30","slug":"knicks-expect-to-respond-well-in-game-3-against-the-hawks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/715193\/","title":{"rendered":"Knicks expect to \u2018respond well\u2019 in Game 3 against the Hawks"},"content":{"rendered":"

Before Monday, the only time the Knicks<\/a> had ever blown a 12-point fourth-quarter lead<\/a> in the playoffs was Game 5 of the 1994 Eastern Conference Finals.<\/p>\n

To Knicks fans, that loss some 32 years ago is better known as the \u201cChoke Game.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

But what history often fails to mention is that after Reggie Miller led his Indiana Pacers to that classic come-from-behind victory \u2014 and flashed the infamous \u201cchoke\u201d gesture to superfan Spike Lee \u2014 the Knicks went on to win that series.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s what the modern-day Knicks will try to do again after the Atlanta Hawks stole Game 2 and evened their first-round playoff series at one game apiece.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been in this situation before,\u201d Knicks guard Josh Hart said after Monday night\u2019s 107-106 loss at Madison Square Garden<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, everyone is frustrated with this loss, and we\u2019re going to go into Game 3 with great attention to detail and a great focus for a full 48 [minutes]. We\u2019ve got high-character guys who respond well.\u201d<\/p>\n

The third-seeded Knicks entered Monday\u2019s fourth quarter leading 91-79, only to be outscored, 28-15, over the final 12 minutes.<\/p>\n

CJ McCollum scored six of his game-high 32 points in the final 2:08<\/a>, including the tie-breaking jumper with 33.5 seconds remaining that proved to be the game-winner.<\/p>\n

So instead of taking a 2-0 lead to Atlanta, the Knicks go into Game 3 at State Farm Arena on Thursday night in a 1-1 tie, with home-court advantage having shifted to the sixth-seeded Hawks.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s why these things are seven-game series,\u201d Knicks head coach Mike Brown said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve got to keep taking it one possession, one quarter, one game at a time. Atlanta did what they wanted to do. They came in here and they took one from us at home. And in my opinion, you\u2019ve got to be able to win on the road if you expect to get where you want to go to. And so for us, we\u2019ve got to go win on the road.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Knicks went 22-19 on the road in the regular season, and they defeated the Hawks in Atlanta on April 6.<\/p>\n

That snapped a 13-game home winning streak for the resurgent Hawks, who are now 20-6 since Feb. 22, including the playoffs.<\/p>\n

The Knicks led by as many as 14 points in the second half of Monday\u2019s loss. That\u2019s after they surrendered a 11-0 run late in Saturday night\u2019s 113-102 win in Game 1 at the Garden.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve just got to play better with the lead,\u201d said Knicks point guard Jalen Brunson, who finished with 29 points on 10-of-26 shooting. \u201cThat\u2019s twice in the fourth quarter now that we\u2019ve done that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Numerous other factors will also be scrutinized after Monday\u2019s loss, including timeout management and a scoreless fourth quarter by Karl-Anthony Towns. As a team, the Knicks shot just 5-of-22 in the fourth.<\/p>\n

But all of that needs to be in the past as the Knicks head to Atlanta.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was a game we should have won, and in the playoffs, you can\u2019t give away games,\u201d Hart said. \u201cSo we\u2019ve all got to make sure we are locked in, watch the film of it, get better, and go in and battle for Game 3.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Before Monday, the only time the Knicks had ever blown a 12-point fourth-quarter lead in the playoffs was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":715194,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3776],"tags":[676,208,3874,7,677,288,327,304,6,11],"class_list":{"0":"post-715193","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-atlanta-hawks","8":"tag-atlanta","9":"tag-atlanta-hawks","10":"tag-atlantahawks","11":"tag-basketball","12":"tag-hawks","13":"tag-jalen-brunson","14":"tag-josh-hart","15":"tag-knicks","16":"tag-nba","17":"tag-nba-playoffs"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116443038583818035","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/715193","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=715193"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/715193\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/715194"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=715193"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=715193"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=715193"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}