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2026 NBA Playoffs Round 1: Knicks vs. Hawks Game 1 – Time to Exorcise the Ghost of Trae Young

The Knicks host the Atlanta Hawks today in Game 1 of their first round series.

The Knicks are poised to go on a big playoff run, where anything shy of the NBA Finals will likely be viewed (reasonably enough) as a disappointment. The Pistons were perhaps the best team in the Eastern Conference this year, but they are VERY banged up right now. Meanwhile, the NEXT best team in the Eastern Conference, the Boston Celtics, were defeated by this very Knicks team (and the Knicks handled them well in the regular season, too). The Cavs aren’t that good.

THIS is the perfect time for the Knicks to make it to the Finals, and once there, who the heck knows, right?

The Hawks, meanwhile, are mostly just happy to be here. They were under .500 at the All Star break, but went on a crazy run in the second half, mostly against teams that weren’t playing to win, but still, to get to 46 wins when being under .500 at the All Star Break is still very impressive.

This Hawkes team is just too darn small. They have the defenders to hang with Jalen Brunson as well as anyone (he’ll still get his, but he’ll have to work HARD for it), but their big men just can’t hang with KAT and Mitch. Now that Mitch can play more minutes, the Knicks should be DESTROYING the Hawks on the boards.

Add it all up, and even with the Hawks’ feistiness, where do you see them ever winning a game in this series? This isn’t as easy as if the Knicks were playing the Raptors, but I don’t think it’s FAR from that. I think five games is a conservative pick (a sweep would be the baller prediction), but conservative or not, I’ll go with it.

Let’s go, Knicks!

And, as always, Fuck Trae Young!

263 replies on “2026 NBA Playoffs Round 1: Knicks vs. Hawks Game 1 – Time to Exorcise the Ghost of Trae Young”

5 games sounds right.

I went to NBA com and did the bracket, and damn if when the moment of truth came I didn’t go with the Pistons over the Knicks in the ECF Finals. 6 games. Just had to face it that I didn’t believe. Ouch.

West got spicy fast; I could see Denver going all the way, also could see them losing to the Wolves. Or to OKC, or the Spurs. But in the end they were my pick.

I think we would beat them. I just don’t think we’ll get past the physicality of Detroit.

Fucking weird stat, that Snyder and Brown are the two most winningest coaches left in the playoffs. I guess teams all want younger coaches now (Kerr, Spo, and Ty Lue all being eliminated in the Play-In was a major factor, of course).

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I wish this was on MSG

So does Mike Breen.

Bridges really is where the mismatch should be. Glad to see them going there.

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NAW becoming, like, a fucking star, was not on my NBA Bingo card.

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The story was how well the Hawks guard Brunson, and he is fucking COOKING THEM.

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Playoff Brunson is just DIFFERENT.

I can feel the “fuck yo defense” energy coming off of the TV

I am stunned at how they’re opening defensively on Brunson. “Eh, who needs Daniels on him?” Keep at it, Snyder!

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A locked in Jalen makes for great viewing. I’ll take our little wizard over anyone*.

*I’m being hyperbolic in support of our captain, it’s fine

The Knicks should be forced to kick in another pick to the Nets!

ETA: Ha, jinx, Strat!

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The Hawks’ defensive approach on Brunson is so fucking stupid. “Just give him some space! He’s probably not going to shoot it!”

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It’s weird seeing 46-year-old John Krasinski being treated like this young kid.

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I low key love Daniels and hate that I am rooting for him to tweak his hamstring

Who can’t love Daniels? We just love him, and root for him to lose.

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If that’s Daniels’s floater, don’t go swimming with him …

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Brunson bricked that shot so hard that Mitch couldn’t even get the rebound.

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Brunson bricked that shot so hard that Mitch couldn’t even get the rebound.

Slot clock was at one, desperate attempt

There have been worse #1 overall picks, but…not that many. 😉

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I’m fucking exhausted. Can we just fast-forward to the finals, please?

With Deuce and Shamet both not looking like themselves, might have to buckle up for the Jordan Clarkson experience. Here’s hoping he keeps making Strat look wrong.

I agree with BC. This defensive choice is bizarre.

Intensity really off the charts. Good start.

I miss Clyde and Breen

This Knick lineup out there is so bad, and yet they’re ADDING TO THE LEAD!

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Anyone think OG was going to make that fast-break layup? Thank god for Clarkson…

I don’t like this lineup. They need a PG to help create things.

Edit: Brian beat me to it.

It says something they we only have one starter in and I’m not concerned in the least

Edit: ha, Strat, feelings not shared

Don’t get your heads down, Atlanta. The next shot in the vicinity of Mitchell Robinson is sure to make it to the rim. Keep at it.

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The Hawks just don’t have a bench. Their roster simply isn’t good enough. I find it hard to believe they’ll win a game in this series.

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This is a defensive lineup guys, appreciate the fact that the Hawks struggle to score against it

Not really sure exactly what Quin Snyder is trying to get done here.

His game plan for this game has been BAFFLING.

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Kuminga is useful as a player so long as you’re only looking to him for hustle plays. If he has to make decisions, you’re in big trouble.

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We’re up by 6 and people are talking sweep…wtf?

Hart is stinking it up today…

Feels like the Knicks should be winning by more.

Hawks pace is bothering the Knicks.

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Hart is bad so far and KaT is not imposing his will on the game or drawing doubles. He needs to mix high post with mid and low post.

We’re up by 6 and people are talking sweep…wtf?

The Hawks just don’t have the horses. When their starters are in, they look good, but their starters can’t play the whole game, and their bench is terrible.

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This Atlanta team is infinitely more watchable than any Trae Young team, I will say that

Feels like an OKC style rebuild

What a dumb fucking review. It was obviously not a flagrant. I legit had no idea what they were even referring to when they said they were reviewing it.

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The his Atlanta team is infinitely more watchable than any Trae Young team

In the FUTURE, this team might be really good, yeah.

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I feel like the Knicks will eventually click and open some distance, but they are making way too many mistakes.

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Kat looks so slow and uncoordinated, needs to get his head in the game and stop begging for fouls

The second half of the second quarter is why Jalen feels he needs to play hero ball. KAT just not looking good enough.

Lol, ref waits until Mikal dunks the rebound to call the foul on Brunson. Come on.

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I’ve never seen a player THIS confident in a challenge when he’s pretty clearly wrong. “Challenge! Challenge! Challenge! Challenge!” Snyder must have been so annoyed. “No, dude!”

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Awful ending to the half by the Knicks, they ain’t sweeping shit playing like this.

This is gonna be a tight series. Better get our shit together. Bridges disappeared , towns a ghost. The iso brunson show is not what gets us where we need to go

For whatever reason I don’t feel as doomer as I typically do. CJ is playing a career game and he’s the only dude keeping them close.

The Hawks were getting way too many open 3s out of simple screens and miscommunication. This wasn’t like the Pacers putting the Knicks in a blender, it was a bunch of mistakes.

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Low assist numbers again – too much standing around..
At least the 3rd quarter of doom is offset by our 4th quarter production…. Right?!

Our 2nd banana ….Mr towns is awful…and without mitch on the floor our defense is shaky

The game is pretty even and this is alarming. We need to slow the pace down. Our POA defense and perimeter defense in general needs to improve. Way to many easy shots for the Hawks on the perimeter.

Terrible half. We seem unprepared.

Not sure why, this isn’t their first rodeo

That SHOULD be a foul on CJ, right? Dude kicked him in the fucking groin.

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Does anyone else think OG sounds like a coach when he is interviewed?

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Daniels is so hilarious on offense. As good of a defender as he is, he’s just as bad of a player on offense.

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“Fortunately, Jalen already has a kid”

I literally texted that to Lady Raven.

How is that Atlanta ball?

Look accurate, honestly.

See, Okongwu, this is when you DO challenge.

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The Hawks can’t stop us. The question is Can we stop them? Experience matters and CJ is keeping them close, but it’s not only him. There have made too many Knicks defensive mistakes which led to easy Hawks looks.

I love that the Hawks have to come up with game plans for Daniels to get rid of the ball because no one will guard him.

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Shit, don’t be hurt, OG!

EDITED TO ADD: The way he was walking, I don’t think that was a terrible ankle roll.

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Ugh..I was all set to ask how many more games like this does McCollum have in him because he may end up being the deciding factor- until Anunoby rolled his ankle

If the Hawks weren’t such a young and kind of dumb team, this would be a much scarier game.

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The Hawks’ shot selection is one of the best things the Knicks have going for them.

That and their dumb turnovers.

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See, OG is already back out there. That ankle roll didn’t look that bad.

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NGL Brian..even though they play dumb alot, I think their starting 5 is so balanced. Would be a great lineup if Okongwu was bigger

Going to hack a Mitch with over 5 mins left in the quarter is some real pussy shit.

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They keep hitting the Knicks in the dick. It is so fucked up.

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NGL Brian..even though they play dumb alot, I think their starting 5 is so balanced. Would be a great lineup if Okongwu was bigger

I do agree. If they had any bench, they’d be good, even with their young and foolish ways.

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This is like the Mazzulla-ball strategy of last year that allowed the Knicks to shoot a bunch of non-Mitch FTs.

They keep hitting the Knicks in the dick. It is so fucked up

“They’re so much bigger than us! Let’s hit em everywhere that they are bigger” 💀

I mean they are hitting nuts, ribs, eyes, noses..I get that it’s playoff basketball, but that’s usually a sign of being outmatched. Detroit does that alot too, but we have yet to overcome that

I’ll give the Hawks this much, their two best players, NAW and Johnson, have both been pretty bad today, and they’re “only” down six. That might suggest SOMEthing for the rest of the series.

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The Atlanta (hit you in the) Cocks

So maybe we change the name to the Atlanta Roosters?

If Mitch isn’t back for the start of the fourth Brown is an idiot

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Johnson getting easy baskets. Towns size advantage not really showing up. We need more ball movement and Bridges needs to get more aggressive

It worked the first half but I’m not sure about these no towns , no brunson lineups, just play towns and mitchell together to start the q

NAW made that block EASY for KAT. Still good for him to block it!

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If you were going to look up “playing with your food” in a dictionary, the page would just be a video of this quarter

If KAT didn’t make some of those good defensive plays Isi wonder about his relationship to bookies

It’s one of those things, you know, where you could say, “if the Hawks weren’t so young and dumb, this game would be closer,” but, well, I mean, come on, the reason why the Knicks are so much better is because they’re NOT young and dumb like these guys.

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We slowed the pace down in the third and this worked in our favor as Atlanta got no rhythm at all. Better than quarter two by far.

Prime McCollum would average at least 28 a game with this Hawks team. I’m certainly glad he’s on the downswing of his prime. This series would be 2021 all over again

When this shitty offensive lineup is increasing the lead on you, you know you suck!

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Refs making sure Hawks have a chance with all these ticky tack fouls to start the quarter

Sorry, I should have noted earlier that Onyeka Okongwu always crashes the boards. He’s the one exception on the Hawks.

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Knicks already in the penalty. I keep saying NBA is rigged and they keep proving me right

Okongwu is the only Hawk from that 2021 series. I never would have thought he’d be this good back then.

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One perk of watching the game with your girlfriend is she realizes KAT changed his shoes at halftime for some reason. Anyway, good stuff, finish the job.

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KAT has been incredible in the 2nd half.

We’re just so much better when KAT is his second-half-shoes self

Funny how the confidence player gets confidence when they give him some looks. (2 shots in 17 minutes in the first half? cmon knicks staff let him eat)

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I need to know more about the shoes, whichever member of the press is monitoring this thread.

The Hawks were lucky to hang with the Knicks as long as they did. The talent disparity is just too huge. Jordan Clarkson would, like, average 22 minutes on this Hawks team. Shamet would be over that!

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Knicks really have to make sure this game is over in the next 3 minutes.

Thank you, Knicks.

Funny how the confidence player gets confidence when they give him some looks. (2 shots in 17 minutes in the first half? cmon knicks staff let him eat)

He had the ball plenty, he just didn’t do much with it except a few nice passes and a bunch of TOs

If you are Mike Brown, how do you let the other team make an 11-0 run there and not call a single fucking time out?

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It was our defense-into-offense that built the big lead, we need to keep the heat on and not slow-play

They went up by 19 and started playing with their food! I can’t believe that! It took and eternity for Brown to take a timeout.

Opponent’s 3pt shooting with under 3 mins left in the game during the playoffs vs the Knicks is 10000%.

Brunson has been forcing too much shots

*anybody who can’t see the movement of players when Brunson is on the bench isn’t seeing the game right

*also stop that prevent offense . Looked like the pacers game 1 again

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Second half defense gave us the victory today. We controlled the pace overall and made it a half court game. Except some brain farts like the 11-0 Hawks run after we went up by 19. On to game two. The talent disparity between these two teams is big and we should not give them any hope.

It’s a crime that I now turn on the Rockets/Lakers game and Mike Breen is on the call.

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That’s a good point from SVG – face-up blocking out often results in a foul. I hadn’t totally tracked that but it seems accurate.

I agree with Stan Van Gundy. To have a chance the Hawks have to win the running game. If we can hang with them running, the Hawks are in big trouble.

Deuce hit a couple of big 3s. So maybe he’s ready to reach peak form.

Clarkson played well. He had a couple of suspect plays, but good overall.

I still think a couple of lineups Brown played were not optimal even if they held their own. We were just hitting tough shots, not creating good ones easily. I would use Alvarado.

This was almost precisely the game the Knicks needed. A simple, “You aren’t as good as us. Just be happy to be here and probably getting a Top 8 pick in the lottery in an awesome draft, and don’t bother to think that you can win this series.”

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Nice win. But either we’re still saving our best for later in the playoffs, or this is who we are. You pick. 😛

The 1990s Knicks often had first round series like this. This iteration of the Knicks has definitely NOT had these series. This is huge that they might have one this year.

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Hack of Mitch trick

*it causes the opposing team to get in the penalty before you pull him

Hawks are solid but they really need everything to go their way to win. They kind of need all 3 of JJ, NAW, and CJ to play well. If even one is off (like NAW was) then they’re fucked. Man Daniel’s looks bad on offense. If he can’t produce, I don’t see this as anything a gentleman’s sweep at worst

Nice win.
Maybe a good thing for them to have the 19pt lead dwindle like that. A reminder early that they can draw on that you can never play with yr food.

I also have a feeling Clarkson is going to have some big moments for us in these playoffs. Just an intuition.

luke kennard’s los angeles lakers are looking pretty good…

houston losing KD is a bit of a tough break for them…he stays out and lakers advance and get luka and AR back they’ll be a tough out for any team…

1 win down. 15 to go!

I feel like Atlanta won’t have any counter moves against us other than play harder and potentially dirtier. I think we got this but I am worried about someone getting injured.

But they had to play most of their starters when we had our bench in and we had Brunson going in the first half and KAT in the second. We’ve got too much fire power for them.

Hopefully we take this seriously and get this done in four or five.

What a great night to be a Knick fan.

After the game we stayed at the front of the garden…wilding out & retard maxing. Pure exiluration of joy. Just got home.

Top 100 nights of my life & I’m mostly sober. LGK.

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