With season on the line, Hawks’ historic loss defies belief

Just unbelievable.

In what world does this make sense?

Facing the end of the season with a loss, the Hawks put their names on a historically deficient performance in a 140-89 loss to the New York Knicks at State Farm Arena in Game 6 of their first-round playoff series.

Telegraphed passes. Soft defense. Ill-advised shots. Careless handling of the ball. Indifferent pursuit of loose balls. Failures to box out for rebounds. Weak or nonexistent challenges to Knicks’ shots at the rim.

All this with the Knicks playing like their hair was on fire and knocking down everything they tossed up.

A 40-15 deficit at the end of the first quarter and 83-36 at the half. The former tied for the largest deficit at the end of one quarter in an NBA playoff game and the latter set the record for largest halftime deficit in a playoff game.

Playing at home in a game they had to win to keep the season alive, the Hawks set a franchise record for largest margin of defeat in a playoff game.

“They were having their way with us, as evidenced by the score,” Hawks coach Quin Snyder said.

As he described the action of the complete implosion, Hawks play-by-play man Steve Holman could not process what was unfolding in front of his eyes.

Holman has called more than 3,100 Hawks games. He once called a season in which they were 13-69.

This was not that. This was a playoff team getting completely manhandled.

“You’ve got to be honest about this,” he said during the broadcast as the Hawks went from an early 9-5 lead to a 48-15 deficit early in the second quarter, a 43-6 run. “This is unbelievable.”

Players who before the game said all the right things beforehand about being more physical against the bigger and brawnier Knicks, playing with desperation and having to play at a high level from the start instead played as if they had never met and were getting together for a casual run at the Y.

“We didn’t execute and the game got away from us,” guard CJ McCollum said.

This might have been the most emblematic sequence in the second quarter.

The score was 52-19 with eight minutes left in the second quarter.

(Yes, it was actually 52-19 in the second quarter.)

The Knicks’ Josh Hart hit an off-balance 3-pointer with the shot clock running down and Jalen Johnson in his face.

On the next possession, Nickeil Alexander-Walker tried a long downcourt pass to Onyeka Okongwu, but it led him too far. Okongwu caught it as he was going out of bounds and threw it back onto the court to keep it alive, where Knicks guard Jose Alvarado pounced on it.

Alvarado passed to Mikal Bridges, who missed a 3-point try from the wing but got his own rebound when no one bothered to box him out and then drove in for a layup.

An outburst from Hawks coach Quin Snyder, desperate to jolt his team, drew a technical.

On the next possession, Johnson, harassed by a double team, tried a pass into traffic that was stolen. On the ensuing possession, the Knicks scored again on an uncontested alley-oop dunk by Mitchell Robinson.

Also up for consideration: Okongwu went up for a defensive rebound of a missed Knicks jump shot and tipped the ball into New York’s basket.

My neighbor at the press table was longtime Hawks TV voice Bob Rathbun. Even though the first-round games aren’t being broadcast by the teams’ TV crews, he has faithfully attended all of the games.

He watched dumbfounded.

“I never could possibly envision this happening,” he said at halftime, when the score was 83-36, which came within three points of the record for largest deficit in any NBA game. “I’ve called over 2,000 Hawks games and I have never seen anything like this.”

A regular season that concluded with two months of inspiring grit and artistry was followed by a playoff series that, after a hope-giving three games, concluded with three atrocious defeats, each defined by the Hawks’ backing down to the Knicks’ physical style and inability to find answers for New York’s adjustments.

“We had a good season and a terrible ending,” McCollum said.

The absolute nosedive doesn’t erase the fact that this team was 20-6 after the All-Star break, a historic turnaround to earn its first direct entry into the playoffs since 2021.

But it sure makes it easy to look at it with skepticism and to wonder if this team, as currently constructed, has what it takes to contend in the postseason in the future.

The series made clear the Hawks’ desperate need for more size and physical presence, as they had no answers for Knicks big men Karl-Anthony Towns and Mitchell Robinson.

But that doesn’t explain the Hawks’ failure to put up a more respectable fight in losing their last three games by 16, 29 and 51 points.