Hawks left frustrated by Knicks as series heads back to MSG

When the Hawks diagnosed what went wrong in their 114-98 Game 4 loss to the Knicks on Saturday, they pointed to their lack of physicality.

The Knicks bullied the Hawks.

They left them ball-watching, beat them to 50-50 balls, disrupted their dribbles and just left the Hawks chasing for most of the game. The Hawks never seemed to figure out how to gain control of the game, especially with Knicks wing Josh Hart holding veteran CJ McCollum to 17 points.

“Give them credit,” Hawks coach Quin Snyder said after the game. “Their aggressiveness on the defensive end — Josh Hart, in particular. He was guarding everybody.

“So it wasn’t a game that was loaded with adjustments as much as it was a team that really got after it. And as I said, it’s not like we didn’t compete, but we didn’t compete in the areas that we need to in order to win again.”

The 2-2 series picks up with Game 5 at 8 p.m. Tuesday at Madison Square Garden in New York.

While the Hawks did a good job of limiting Knicks guard Jalen Brunson to just 19 points, they struggled to keep the Knicks’ other key contributors in check.

Hart had an explosive start to the second quarter, forcing back-to-back turnovers on McCollum. He scored nine of his 10 points in the second, kick-starting the Knicks’ separation from the Hawks.

New York forward OG Anunoby remained hot from his 29-point performance from Game 3. The Knicks capitalized on switches, feeding him the minute he got a smaller defender on him. He scored 22 points.

The Knicks continued to feed Karl-Anthony Towns, as he finished with 20 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists, and got some valuable minutes from Mikal Bridges.

But the Hawks just struggled to contain that aggressiveness.

“I think when a team is aggressive, you have to be more sure with the ball,” Snyder said. “Passes are tougher. You need to get off it sooner. I think as much as anything, you can’t attack on your own. You have to attack collectively.