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2025-26 Game Thread: Knicks @ Hawks

First time they’ve played the Hawks, right?

Always fun to beat up on Trae Young.

Let’s go, Knicks!

Over 58 would be really great!

162 replies on “2025-26 Game Thread: Knicks @ Hawks”

It would really suck to be a Hawks fan and go to a game and have Knicks fans be louder than your fans

kind of disappointed that nba.com listed deuce in the starting lineup today…

very happy though to see mo with the start, he takes up sooooooo much space on the defensive end with those crazy long limbs he has…

good on MB getting a look at mccullar jr. in live action…

Apparently the Hawks are interested in AD. You can kind of see why in this game.

And then what? Kawhi? 😀

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McCullar made the three and the Hawks’ announcer says in an outraged voice “What is going on?”

McCullar made the three and the Hawks’ announcer says in an outraged voice “What is going on?”

LOL

I may regret saying this but how do people look at this Hawks team and put them in the mix in the Eastern Conference? I know they’re missing KP but they look like trash

Such a fun half, the young guys making plays, Brunson taking over, I’m starting to see the vision on Mike Brown.

I’m not sure McCullar can actually shoot but the rest of his game is for real, he can defend and rebound and even pass a bit

I think the Hawks are kinda decent? They just have no size at all without KP and we’re a team that punishes that big flaw specifically super hard.

Quin Snyder has seemed overrated to me for a long time. I thought his Utah teams underachieved, and so far he’s done nothing in Atlanta. Despite having good defensive players in theory, his teams seem to play soft.

I may regret saying this but how do people look at this Hawks team and put them in the mix in the Eastern Conference? I know they’re missing KP but they look like trash

Give them a break, d-mar. Tonight they’re playing the NY Knicks and that’s not an easy thing to do. 😉 💪🧡💙

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McCullar balling isn’t too much of a surprise, but McCullar hitting 3s is a surprise.

Trae Young needs to be traded for the Hawks to go anywhere. Throw him to Sacramento, he’s always been a West Coast kind of guy to me. Either way he’s literally soul-sucking this team. (Not that I mind – cocky s.o.b that is overrated and riding the rep of a fluky Eastern conference run and has done nothing since. Another supposed Knick killer when you actually step back, hasn’t really won anything nor has a winning record against us)

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Atlanta needs KP to be fully healthy, he’s what makes the rest of the pieces fit. Soooooo… good luck to Atlanta with that.

The Hawks are not in the Knicks class. Man for man the Knicks are better.

KP will help the Hawks but if you look at him vs. KAT it’s clear that the #1 pick has far outplayed the #4 pick in the 2015 draft in his career. Trae Young is good but Brunson is elite. And then, when you look at the rest of their starters, few would crack the Knick’s top 7 players.

Yabu is like the 14th man at this point

With McCullar out there now, Yabu is the 15th man on a 14 man roster.

This is the best I’ve seen Diawara play. I like the defensive look of OG, Diawara, and Bridges at the 2-3-4 slots.

hard to imagine any teams giving up much for Trae, let alone giving him even close to a high AAV contract. Guy does not play winning hoops

The fact that Diawara, Kolek and McCullar are crushing the Hawks is making this a supremely fun game to watch.

Brown has been better than expected. Game feels simple out there. Wave after wave. Knicks are no fun to play.

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It is hilarious that a team in 2025 decided “hey let’s depend on the health of Kristaps Porzingis.”

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My old man yelling at clouds pet peeves is that you should be able to add or take points from the board later in the game on review.

Edit: I mean you shouldn’t be able to.

How many times this season do we have to hold our collective breath when KAT goes down in a heap under the basket?

This seems like an important stretch in this game…we had them on the ropes and are kinda rope-a-doping ourselves…

As for what Thibs would have done tonight, he’d have played Deuce 40 minutes.

As for what Thibs would have done tonight, he’d have played Deuce 40 minutes.

… and Hart would have started.

mccullar even playing tonight is a surprise

I always thought he was EB’s imaginary friend.

1

The Atlanta play by play guy just said, “c’mon baby!” when Alexander Walker just launched a 3…

Why are they not attacking Trae. It’s the same stuff from last year. Come on now.

Trae is in the corner guarding Mikal. Give me a break.

I think they took their foot off the pedal a little and it almost cost them when the Hawks made some 3s. They won’t get away with this against the top teams. Lucky.

Too close for comfort in the end. Terrible defense in the second half and Clarkson was such a negative out there, his minutes should’ve gone to Diawara. Happy for McCullar tho, a true pro staying ready.

As mentioned above the Hawks aren’t in the same league as the Knicks but hot three point shooting from them and laziness by the Knicks kept the game close.

Anyone think Thibs would have played Diawara, Mc Cullar and Kolek 58 minutes tonight and none of the starters>38?

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Meanwhile, Trae was 2-10, 0-4 from three, with five turnovers. Couldn’t happen to a nicer homeless dude.

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trae would make a great back up point guard for someone…

atlanta has done a bunch to try to build a team around him – it just ain’t happening…

The key on the play on which OG got the steal is that Trae picked up his dribble and had to pass. I thought for sure he’d be trying to draw a foul.

clarkson needs to be benched in favor of either deuce or shamet (when he returns)…

both are way more consistent offensively and less error prone…

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So many weird results tonight, glad the Knicks survived it. Denver lost to Orlando, the Spurs lost to Utah (!), Wolves lost at home to Brooklyn (!!).

All these developmental minutes the young players are getting could be huge at the end of the season and into the playoffs. This is one of the things that was missing under Thibs. Brown is looking at all sorts of lineup combinations and seeing who can handle what. There will be no guessing in the playoffs and the players will be more ready.

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That was not a good game for Marty McFly. Let’s see if he can bounce back against the Pels.

These developmental mins for the young guys is fun to watch but other than Kolek if any other of the other young guys are getting meaningful mins in the playoffs we’re fucked.

22-9 is fucking amazing!

Just two games out of first place in the East, baby!

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These developmental mins for the young guys is fun to watch but other than Kolek if any other of the other young guys are getting meaningful mins in the playoffs we’re fucked.

You would have said the same thing about Kolek 3 weeks ago.

But that’s kinda the idea…. give the younger players on the roster a few minutes here and there so you don’t have the starters tongues hanging out in March and sometimes they take the ball and run with it.

Some random observations:
I thought Diawara was very solid in his 16 minutes. His length was very impactful, shrinking driving and passing lanes and swallowing up weak drives. He missed a couple of bunnies but his motor is a thing.

Kolek had some excellent defensive stands against Jalen Johnson, just chesting him up and keeping him away from the rim.

McCullar had two terrible illegal screens, but that’s something that can’t be corrected in the G-League because you ain’t screening for Jalen Brunson being guarded by a defensive wing down there. He should be able to clean that up.

Giannis with the windmill slam with 1.9 seconds left and up 7 almost started a brawl.

Meanwhile, brutal home losses for the Spurs and TWolves.

Nets are 7-3 in their last 10. Weak schedule, but getting better. The Spurs looking past a team after clubbing the champs back to back isn’t unexpected by a young team.

“These developmental mins for the young guys is fun to watch but other than Kolek if any other of the other young guys are getting meaningful mins in the playoffs we’re fucked.”

BBA, obviously, but isn’t that true for almost any team in the NBA? The hope is that they are more likely to eat minutes situationally in a pinch without costing us a playoff game. There’s a lot of very basic things you can’t learn unless you get non-garbage time NBA reps. I just pointed one of those things out in McCullar learning how to screen without being called for an offensive foul. Diawara is already doing less biting on fakes and reaching. Kolek sucked in his first few games this year and now he’s actually on the floor down the stretch in close games for defensive purposes!

Bottom line: Hey, you never know!

KAT deserves a special shout-out tonight. It’s crazy that he was a -7 for the game because he was spectacular. This was the first time I saw him drive repeatedly to the hoop without using his off arm in at best a questionable and quite often an illegal way. That Jokic-esque behind the head no-look pass after an OReb was amazing. The 3’s were on point. the FT shooting was stellar. It almost wasn’t enough, but if we had lost this game it would certainly not have been on him, not even a tiny bit.

+100 – Props to Kat tonight, excellent A game on offense and also very few dumb fouls!

Also thought Diawara (should have gotten more mins) along with of course McCullar showed out. Kolek had an underwhelming night (should have gotten less minutes), as did Jordan Clarkson.

Of all the ways I think it was important to move on from Thibs, sure, is was about minutes and playing the kids and x’s and o’s and all that stuff, but it was just as much about getting everyone to believe in their best selves and to play with less fear of disappointing the coach and winding up in the doghouse while only the “trusted” guys carried the load. And it’s not that Thibs was a zero in the “play the kids” regard, I think he made all of RJ, IQ, Obi, Grimes, and of course Deuce and Mitch, better players. But there’s something refreshing about Brown, maybe it’s just a kinder, more fatherly, more collaborative approach rather than a top-down “I’m not all that interested in what you have to say because I know basketball better than any of you” approach.

The thing is, Brunson, Bridges, and Hart are so mentally tough and seasoned that they don’t really need a Thibs any more (if they ever did, which is at least debatable), and Brown is allowing them to be “co-coaches” than would ever be possible under Thibs. But the early returns are that every single player on the team is playing with as much confidence that you could hope for. The Thibs residue is there, but it’s just better.

That might or might not translate into more playoff success…the bar Thibs set is really high and Brown doesn’t get the grace period that Thibs had. But the road is more scenic, more fragrant, more relatable. Tonight, Christmas Day, and Emirates Cup finals are all Mike Brown wins.

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