Categories
Game Thread

2026 NBA Playoffs Round 1: Knicks vs. Hawks Game 2 – “Hanging With” Doesn’t Mean BEATING

The Knicks host the Atlanta Hawks for Game 2 of their first round, best of seven series, and the media has been talking about how the Hawks were able to “hang with” the Knicks in Game 1.

And, to a certain extent, that’s true, but the fact of the matter is that the Hawks just don’t have enough talent. They need to have great games from Jalen Johnson, CJ McCollum AND Nickeil Alexander-Walker to have a chance in this one. If even ONE of them has an off game, they’re screwed. They have no real bench to speak of. Their best defender is so bad on offense that he legitimately airballed both a three pointer AND A FLOATER last night.

So yes, their starters are good enough that they can “hang” with the Knicks, but they can’t get over the hump when the Knicks are just way too talented and big for them.

The Hawks will have cap room and a lottery pick, so maybe they’ll be better next year, but they’re not ready for prime time yet.

Let’s go, Knicks!

278 replies on “2026 NBA Playoffs Round 1: Knicks vs. Hawks Game 2 – “Hanging With” Doesn’t Mean BEATING”

Deuce-Deuce!

I even found the game first time I looked. This streaming stuff is easy!

1

Great start. Not at all on the regular season zombie state to start the games, it’s good to see.

Except for the wide open Okongwu 3pter Knicks defense has been excellent to start the game.

Brunson is drunk. They would be ahead by double digits if he was just being normal.

Having said that Daniels is fouling the shit out of Brunson on every possession he’s guarding him.

Noah Eagle referencing Mikal’s “aggressive nature” is a tell. Watching his first Knicks game.

Someone had a great line that Dyson Daniels three point attempts should be categorized as “turnovers.”

1
By Post Author

Honestly felt like the Knicks should be up by more. But really nice quarter. The defense has been so good.

I was trying to get a 5th guy for my all nba “prick” team…alas…Dyson Daniels….comes to the rescue…to join Embiid…Bane…Draymond…and Dillon Brooks

Didn’t know you could get a T if the nuts don’t touch the head

T bagging is complicated

1

Brown barely plays non-Brunson/non-KAT lineups the whole season, and decides to do it here. WTF, man.

Mike browns coaching like an idiot

And marechal he was doing this to end the season , but didn’t believe he would do this in the playoffs.

The non-Brunson/KAT lineup was actually pretty good for us in game 1. Clock seemed to strike midnight on it tonight.

Good D by KAT, but I have no idea what NAW was thinking there.

By Post Author

Brunson had a free lane, and he kicked out to OG instead for the three. Weird choice.

By Post Author

And why didn’t they challenge that call. Brunson was there first.

I think MB decided to keep the challenges, not that he wouldn’t think it’d be overturned.

I know it meant three fouls on Daniels, but come on, Snyder, how do you challenge that?

By Post Author

NAW’s decision making has been TERRIBLE. I thought he was trying to get KAT to foul him, but he instead pulled back to take a fugly shot. So dumb.

By Post Author

Yeah despite a pretty poor 2nd quarter it’s actually pretty nice to be up 7 at halftime.

Given how much better the Hawks are shooting from deep and from the line, having a 7 point lead here is a minor miracle.

I have always liked CJ so not going to kill him now. I like the way we have responded to every run.

1

KAT only 3 shots, lousy half by Cap, yet still up 7. Have to get KAT more involved on offense. also 12-19 on FTs no bueno.

KAT with only 3 shots is a big problem. And he had the 5 on him most of the time.

KAT with only 3 shots is a big problem. And he had the 5 on him most of the time.</blockquote
It’s alarming especially when the team should know that’s an advantage for KAT. Hard to not be upset at times if you’re him

Heard the first quarter in the car on the way home and watched the second which was very poor. The lineup was weird, and Deuce can’t run the point. Period. The team got totally disorganized and hence the 11-2 Hawks run. Brown kept this going for way too long before putting Alvarado in. You can’t do that! It’s the f-g playoffs! Atlanta started believing and the Knicks never got into a good rhythm after that. Brunson did not have a good first half but I am not concerned. As long as he wakes up in the fourth.

I get that Brown changed the rotation to start the second with Mitch to avoid hack-a-Mitch. But if you are doing that, also take Brunson out of the game a little earlier so that he can play with Mitch. Basically Brunson should play the whole second quarter rather than the whole first quarter.

Deuce can’t run the point. Period.

That’s been known for years. Not sure why it’s even tried anymore.

Positives for us: we destroyed them on the boards, put up 8 more shots than them (unlike game 1), and shut down Jalen Johnson. We need to do the same to CJ McCollum in the second half.

One of those games where the Knicks do two incredibly stupid things, then two brilliant things. A bit exhausting.

This whole series KAT thinks he’s passing to Usain Bolt

He believes in his teammates 😉

2

One of those games where the Knicks do two incredibly stupid things, then two brilliant things. A bit exhausting.

Who doesn’t like rollercoasters? 😀

no more landry…exited from second half circle of trust…

either jose or tyler need to back up jalen…

maybe time to give mo some run…deuce has been dicey…

Well to be fair to Shamet, he did break in half on that fall…

The flow of this game is almost hilariously similar to Game 1. Hopefully the fourth quarter will also flow the same way, minus the 11-point giveback with a few minutes left that made things less fun.

Mitch has a weird way of dominating playoff games for such an easily replaceable scrub

Crap I think Mike Brown is going with the no offense lineup to start the 4th, at least put bridges and OG out there!!

Brunson and KAT each have 4 fouls so gonna have to survive first few mins of 4th quarter without either one.

Or put KaT out there, and when he gets fouled out close with brunson, we can’t let then back in the game to save fouls!!!

1

Outside of Mitch…our vaunted depth has dissipated

It’s just the 2nd game, let’s hope they get better

Knicks on defense have had a shitload of deflections they haven’t been able to recover that could’ve lead to easy fastbreak pts.

Knicks on defense have had a shitload of deflections they haven’t been able to recover that could’ve lead to easy fastbreak pts.

Yeah, it feels like they’ve had some very unlucky bounces.

Enough with this selfish ass Brunson ball. Let’s move the ball and get good shots. Jesus Christ

Brunson doesn’t have to be Captain clutch if it isn’t close!

Iso rubbish

It’s the year 2026, and teams are still giving Jalen Brunson room to shoot.

By Post Author

The Hawk aren’t even winning this game, the Knick are giving it to them.

By Post Author

So we’re going to lose the series? Something about the team that wins game 2 wins the series.

This is an old school Knicks epic playoffs choke job.

This is even worse than the Indy game, as they hit some CRAZY shot!

By Post Author

Literally what is going through their heads right now.

We’re still going to win in 5 or 6 despite CJ’s heroics but this is just absurd

Mike Brown and Brunson lost this game.

Incredibly, incredibly stupid stuff. Unbelievably stupid.

Fuck Brunson Fuck Brunson Fuck Brunson. Absolutely horrible 4th on both ends. How about changing the fucking offense Brown? Embarrassing loss that we gave to them, literally gave to them.

Brunson problem isn’t even his defense

It’s his ball hogging ways

1

Mike Brown also finishes with his challenge in his pocket because he didn’t challenge some obviously bad calls.

Still pissed. Terrible D and awful lineups by Mike Brown. Guy is no playoffs genius

Jk the offense is the awful offense

Where are the plays or is Brunson bitching them

I can talk about the shitty lineup he started in the second as well

F brown

Brunson TS in this eries has to be under 50

And he doesn’t stop shooting

Up by 11 early and we allowed them to come back with those weird lineups. Up by 13 end of the third, and, instead of stepping on their throat, we allowed them to come back with the same. We gave them energy and hope. Tough to swallow this loss but we brought it upon ourselves.

Pacers flashback to game 1

A critical (and stupid) OG turnover flipped both games, and OG missed free throws were ultimately the difference in both, too.

The worst part was I knew that was a turnover as soon as he started dribbling. And I didn’t think he was going to hit those free throws, either. Not sure Jalen should ever pass him the ball again in these spots.

Let’s rush up the court, down 1, to bridges with fucking brunson on the court wtf

If they lose this series major things are going to happen, but they will not bottom out the team and doubt brown gets canned.

BBA it will not get a major blow up because makes zero sense to go into a tank

Why is Bridges taking the last shot? Call a timeout!!! An absolute shitshow of a performance in the 4th. We gave the game away, simple as that. Literally so pissed right now. I’ve never been this upset with Brunson ever but he was awful, as was Mike Brown. This Hawks team isn’t even good. Wake the fuck up guys

Ball ends up in fadeaway pu$$y bridges hands… of course it does … offffff courseeeeee

There seems to be some dispute about whether we had one or not but looks like Mikal Bridges’ fucking pathological fear of basketball rims really bit us in the ass

1

Mike brown is culprit 1 and Brunson culprit 2

Brown look like a g league coach tonight

Celtics probably laughing their asses off right now watching this pathetic shit.

I’d rather see clarkson get more PT than bridges … guy played with much more fire… tonight anyway…

There seems to be some dispute about whether we had one or not but looks like Mikal Bridges’ fucking pathological fear of basketball rims really bit us in the ass

I had the ESPN box score open and they indicated the Knicks had one left.

Brunson TS in this series is fucking awful

Somebody can tell you tonight McCollum wins this game and has been better than Brunson so far.. think about that

Unfortunately, this is the scenario I was afraid of. I knew a few of these games were going to come down to the last few plays. Our edge was having the better closer, but you have to execute to win. We played a bit too much hero ball, turned the ball over late, missd FTs, the defense was an issue and we choked a few plays away. That was too much.

We are definitely not going to win this series with Brunson playing too much hero ball when we all these other weapons and when he’s a liability on defense.

That’s the bad news.

The good news we are still the better team and my estimate is that we still have about a 66% chance of winning this series.

Celtics probably laughing their asses off right now watching this pathetic shit.

After the Celtics sweep and this team plays 7 games against CJ McCollum

Brunson was a ball hog. Bridges was a zero. Mike Brown lost all my respect tonight. No control of the game, playing it safe protecting fouls in the playoffs , dumb ass lineups, no timeouts. CJ shat his pants at the lineup and only we find a way to get bridges to take the last shot

Sadly, TO or not, I wasn’t even THAT mad at what was happening on that last play or that bridges had the ball.. I said “take it to the raaaaaack”… so obviously he pulls up for 3 (which he’s probably more comfortable taking), fakes, then he concedes he can’t go to rack now, cause he F’d that up already, so what he decides is to still take a wonderfully low % side/fadeaway bullshit 2… thank you, Mikal… not like I could do remotely better but I’m also not getting paid to … meanwhile KAT basically freezed out … way too much Brunson sloppy 1v1

The Hawks almost did it to us in game 1 as well but good thing we were up by 19 before they went on an 11-0 run and MB finally called a timeout. We were not so lucky tonight.

Can’t believe this coach punted 10 minutes with a garbage lineup in this game . No towns or..

Fxck Mike Brown . Just an awfully coached game by him. His lineups combos are terrible .

So we’re going to lose the series?

I hear there’s a 70% chance

Rama, they may very well lose this series. They have now lost home court. The Knicks are under massive pressure now.

I still think we are going to win this series, but if they do blow it, it’s likely it will be because of Brunson. IMO you can’t win at this level playing the way he plays on too many nights. The ball and players have to move. On too many nights he dribbles and looks to score too much, even when he’s not shooting well. It’s only when fans and the press start calling him out that he plays correctly for a few games, but then he falls back into the same pattern again. In his head, it was him vs CJ McCollum and not the Knicks vs. Hawks. That’s not a winning formula. It’s an ego and basketball IQ issue. If he doesn’t correct it NOW, I’d trade him while his trade value is above his basketball value. Maybe it won’t happen because fans would freak out, but you can’t have a player doing things like this on offense and also getting killed on defense.

1

Too early to tell, of course, but we are clearly the better team and we clearly have a good chance to lose the series. That is already bad enough.

Mike brown just said he loves his all bench lineup because it looked good at the end of the season . Yup

1

Ok, well, at least there was no time out available. The TV crew said they had one and so did Gameday, which was obviously mistaken.

Typical of Mikal to make the passive play there instead of the aggressive one.

So we’re going to lose the series?

I hear there’s a 70% chance

IMO we are 55%-66% to win the series depending on how much better you think Atlanta has legitimately been after the trade deadline. We had that debate a few days ago where we tried to determine how much was the easy schedule down the stretch and how much was the changes they made. I think it was a bit of both.

1

Knicks won’t lose this series but unless they somehow win the next 3 in a row to win this series in 5 after this embarrassing Game 2 loss there won’t be any positives to take from winning this series in 6 or 7. Similar to the Pistons series last year although I mean its the playoffs the goal is to just win however possible but its shit like tonight that make it so damn hard to truly love this group.

Mike brown just said he loves his all bench lineup because it looked good at the end of the season . Yup

Mike Brown has some good attributes, but lineups and playing the right players is not one of them.

Sorry if they place themselves up there as contender you can’t lose this game .

1

Towns was a plus 5. He was 8-12. And some of those shots came with Alvarado on the court passing to him. How the hell is he taking 12 shots while the point guard is bricking .

1

There was a point in the 3Q where I was genuinely impressed with these guys. I even, for a fleeting moment, thought they had finally put it together and were beginning to assert themselves.

Some Mets players were probably their as well. Team is back home and had an off day.

Another issue on the bench when you have McBride running Point Guard. He can’t play that role. He provides no shot creation.

Towns is averaging 23 pts, 8 rebs and 3 assists

Towns has a 73 TS

Insane how Brunson and Mike Brown are wasting this guy. Brunson on the other hand has a 52 TS. Oof which isn’t a surprise because he has a better defender on him , but doesn’t realize he needs to trust his team mates.

1

Sorry if they place themselves up there as contender you can’t lose this game .

Excellent point. There is no way that they should have lost this game.

By Post Author

The defense lost this game way before it got to those final plays.

We had a 12-point lead. Brown is going to have to run some defensive lineups for significant minutes and yes that might mean sitting Brunson at points.

And even though KAT has been playing better D, many Hawks were just parking under the basket without a care in the world with Mitch out of the game. That is unacceptable.

And even though KAT has been playing better D, many Hawks were just parking under the basket without a care in the world with Mitch out of the game. That is unacceptable.

If Towns isn’t going to get the ball , just put Mitch in

what James Harden is doing for Evan Mobley is how Brunson needs to try and play . Towns would avg 30 with Harden

1

I was bathing my son for bedtime and stopped checking the score. But as soon as my text notifications starting blaring from the trolls, i knew something went terribly wrong.

Towns is averaging 23 pts, 8 rebs and 3 assists

Towns has a 73 TS

Insane how Brunson and Mike Brown are wasting this guy.

Please stop with this bullshit. KAT wastes himself. He was a disgrace in the 4th quarter. A lazy disgrace.

Ess-Dog, on the other hand, has it spot on:

many Hawks were just parking under the basket without a care in the world with Mitch out of the game. That is unacceptable.

Correct. And why is that? It’s because KAT didn’t show up in the 4th quarter. He didn’t compete at all.

Look at the tape:

Here you’ll notice there’s only 9 men in the screen. That’s because KAT didn’t start running up the court until every other player was already on the other side:

https://www.nba.com/stats/events?CFID=&CFPARAMS=&GameEventID=610&GameID=0042500122&Season=2025-26&flag=1&title=MISS%20Bridges%2024%27%203PT%20Running%20Jump%20Shot

Then Josh Hart gets an OReb and passes him the ball for a shot he absolutely must take but inexplicably doesn’t:

https://www.nba.com/stats/events?CFID=&CFPARAMS=&GameEventID=612&GameID=0042500122&Season=2025-26&flag=1&title=MISS%20Bridges%2025%27%203PT%20Jump%20Shot

Here we begin to see what ess-dog pointed out — he’s not even bothering to space the floor, so his man (Kuminga) gets to clog the lane and reject Brunson:

https://www.nba.com/stats/events?CFID=&CFPARAMS=&GameEventID=648&GameID=0042500122&Season=2025-26&flag=1&title=MISS%20Brunson%203%27%20Driving%20Layup

Here he is being lazy again, letting Kuminga clog the lane to cause the OG turnover:

https://www.nba.com/stats/events?CFID=&CFPARAMS=&GameEventID=701&GameID=0042500122&Season=2025-26&flag=1&title=Anunoby%20Lost%20Ball%20Turnover%20(P1.T14)

Pick any other play that I didn’t post and I guarantee you he’s just loafing around doing jack shit.

Fuck KAT. No one is wasting him but himself.

KAT has been by far the Knicks best player, weird to attack him . He is being wasted. Brunson repeatedly comes down the court and takes a shitty jump-shot while KAT doesn’t touch the ball. If you swap Brunson with Harden do you not think Towns gets more shot attempts .?

OG stunk it up pretty good in the fourth too. A couple of pathetic looking drives to the basket and two brutal missed FTs.

This doesn’t look like the mentally toughest bunch out there.

KAT has been by far the Knicks best player, weird to attack him

Don’t just say things. Look at the tape and tell me where I am wrong.

He wasn’t just bad in the 4th quarter. He did not even compete in the 4th quarter.

This is simply not a guy who competes hard in every game and every quarter. The single biggest reason this team is so maddening is because he is only focused and committed some of the time. Don’t blame Brunson for knowing it.

*That OG play has nothing to do with Towns. OG is well known for being a horrible driver and loses the ball so easily.

*That Towns missed hooked down low is on him, but it’s better than some shitty Brunson chuck.

Weird substitutions and lineups galore in this game from Brown and he failed to stop a mediocre opponent from gaining runaway momentum.

Bridges isn’t some crappy 3 point shooter and got two good looks. I’m perfectly fine with that play. Towns believed he was going to make it like the rest of the team.

*Towns effort after Josh Hart pushed the ball up was shitty, but if Bridges just makes one of those shots..

ShwinnyPooh, Diawara playing time advocate
@shwinnypooh

McBride/Shamet/Clarkson played 23 mins the ENTIRE season w/o Brunson or KAT on the floor

McBride/Shamet played 46 mins the ENTIRE season w/o Brunson or KAT on the floor

Mike Brown didn’t attempt this all yr but has randomly decided to try this out now for no apparent reason lol

Will Huk be broken out next game with Pacome?

This is a nice sample size according to this coach

Towns effort after Josh Hart pushed the ball up was shitty

Now watch the other clips. You will see shitty effort on every single one. And that’s why the lane was clogged all 4Q.

FWIW I’m not yelling at you — forgive me if it seems like I am. It’s totally reasonable to look at the box score and think KAT was great and we should have gone to him more.

But that dude was not competing. The tape doesn’t lie.

I hear you. kAT was great in the 3rd and they let this wing thing completely let them stop passing the ball to him . He may think since he’s not getting the ball he will punt his effort . I still would take Kat post up even if you want him to space the court and not clog the paint over some OG drive. It never ends well.

Timberwolves battling vs Denver. Not trying to hear any excuses. 6th seed in the West is the Timberpups who were in the WCF last season and we are playing a team lead by CJ McCollum.

wtf is Murray doing you need a three to tie the game and you take a mid range two pointer. It’s another dumb decision by a different home team tonight.

Damn just saw a clip of Timothee looking very upset at the end of the game. More upset than the Oscar’s loss..

I truly think that this was a worse loss than the Indiana game. The Knicks made some big shots in that Indy game, the Pacers just made tons of crazy threes.

There, the Pacers really TOOK the game from the Knicks. Here, the Knicks just GAVE it away in the end.

This was an embarrassing, embarrassing loss to a team that is clearly inferior, talent-wise, but the Knicks still couldn’t put them away. It was a pathetic performance.

By Post Author

Leave a Reply

This site uses User Verification plugin to reduce spam. See how your comment data is processed.