Jalen Brunson entered the Knicks’ postgame press conference at Madison Square Garden on Monday night and slumped onto a folding chair next to teammate Josh Hart behind a dais set up at the front of the room.
Wearing a knit cap and dark sunglasses, Brunson’s demeanor was understandably serious and sober. Roughly 30 minutes earlier, the Knicks surrendered command of Game 2 of the opening round Eastern Conference playoff series versus the Atlanta Hawks — relinquishing a 91-79 lead they held at the start of the fourth quarter and ultimately losing 107-106. Instead of taking a 2-0 series advantage, the Knicks face the Hawks tonight in Game 3 (7:00 p.m., Prime Video) on the road, tied 1-1, with Game 4 also in Atlanta on Saturday (6:00 p.m. NBC/Peacock).
Although Brunson scored a team-high 29 points, he labored offensively for much of the night, shooting just 10-26 overall and missing six of 10 3-point attempts. As the point guard, his facilitating and ball distribution was suspect. After center Karl-Anthony Towns scored 12 points in the third quarter, he did not take a shot in the fourth quarter despite an efficient 8-12 evening for 18 points. It was counterintuitive that Brunson and Knicks head coach did not prioritize and feature Towns on the Knicks’ offensive end because thus far in the series, the Hawks have no answers to stop his power game in the paint.
“I’ll just say I can control what I can control,” said Brunson in rationalizing the Knicks’ fourth quarter offensive failings in Game 2.
“Poor decision-making on my part. A couple of positions, they played great defense and smacked the ball out of my hands. We got to play better with the lead, that’s twice in the fourth quarter now that we’ve done that.”
The same could be said for the collective squad after Game 1 on Saturday. The Knicks left the Garden with a 113-102 victory, but the Hawks sliced the Knicks’ 106-87 lead with 4 1/2 minutes remaining to 106-98 late in the quarter, going on a 11-0 run.
But two nights later in Game 2, the Hawks, driven by 34-year-old veteran CJ McCollum, who dissected and probed the Knicks’ defense for a game-high 32 points, consummated the comeback. McCollum also replaced former Hawk Trae Young as an antagonist and target of the Knicks fans’ disdain following a nose-to-nose verbal exchange between him and Knicks reserve guard Jose Alvarado in the third quarter.
From then on, many in the MSG crowd vociferously booed the 6’3” guard and chanted “F-you CJ” in unison. McCollum and Alvarado were previously teammates on the New Orleans Pelicans.
“I am no villain. I’m a nice guy with two kids and a wife,” McCollum countered afterwards. “I think it’s admiration. They’re great, passionate fans that create a hostile environment … it’s fun, it’s basketball, it’s the playoffs. If anything, I think it’s a sign of respect.”
McCollum added he has attended Knicks playoff games as a fan so he knew what to expect in the Garden’s charged up atmosphere.
The Knicks must adjust their defensive schematics against McCollum ahead of Game 3, particularly on high screens. In Game 2, Hawks head coach Quin Snyder repeatedly put Brunson in conflict on picks to switch him onto McCollum. It was advantage McCollum, as he attacked Brunson for opportune scoring opportunities. McCollum was also a force on offense in Game 1, pacing the Hawks with 26 points.
“Give Atlanta a lot of credit. A couple of times we could have pulled away and we didn’t,” said Knicks head coach Mike Brown on Monday. “We have to keep putting bodies on bodies.
“…The last thing I would say is that, in that fourth quarter too, you could tell that they were playing with a level of desperation, and there were four 50/50 balls, and they got three of the four. We always use that stat to gauge the level of aggression in a game, and in that fourth quarter their aggression stepped up.”