The Hawks picked up their fifth straight win by downing the Knicks 139-124 Friday night at State Farm Arena.
Here are five observations:
The Hawks’ defense in the fourth quarter sealed the night. They opened the period by holding the Knicks to 1-of-10 shooting from the floor for roughly five minutes. The Knicks did not score their second bucket until there was 5:41 left in the game.
But the Hawks had built up a 122-107 lead by then and they held on the remainder of the way.
The Hawks played intensely down the stretch as they went zone and when they got into one-on-one matchups, they didn’t let up. The Hawks forced the Knicks to miss their first three shots in the fourth quarter before they allowed RJ Barrett to sink a triple with 10:56 in the game.
But the Hawks would hold strong the rest of the way as they focused on holding the Knicks under 25 in the fourth. The Hawks ended up outscoring the Knicks 37-23 in the fourth.
“The zone, I thought the zone, slowed them down, made them use some clock,” Hawks coach Nate McMillan said. “They couldn’t find the matchups. And they were really doing a good job of attacking man coverage and getting downhill.
“But the zone became a stop sign, I thought for them. And they started moving the ball around the perimeter, they missed a couple of shots, we got a little momentum, and I thought there was the difference there in the game.”
2. The Hawks had another strong night of ball movement with the backcourt of Trae Young and Dejounte Murray combining for 56 points and 18 of the Hawks’ 27 assists. Over the last five games, the Hawks have had at least six players score in double figures. On Wednesday, the Hawks had eight players score in double-digits in their win over the Mavericks.
They scored a season-high 139 points and the first time they’ve done so since Dec. 30, 2020 at Brooklyn when they scored 141. They shot 56% from the field and made 38.2% of their shots from 3, thanks to a big night from forwards John Collins and De’Andre Hunter.
“We needed to make a run, start winning some ballgames the second half of the season, and we all needed to tighten up our game,” McMillan said. “What they’re doing now, they’re really attacking and they’re playing in a really good rhythm.
“I think Trae’s really doing a nice job of initiating the offense. But DJ has been on fire the last few games, and our guys are milking that. But it was a number of our guys that played well tonight. John shot the ball well. They’re playing connected basketball, playing the game the right way and this is the result of that.”
3. Collins missed only one of his shots on Friday night, an attempt from 3 with 2:25 remaining in the first quarter. The Hawks forward, who was 7-for-8, has been finding a rhythm since he returned from an ankle sprain in December.
Over the last 15 games, he has averaged 14.7 points per game, up from 12.3 in his first 22 games of the season.
Collins has given the team some juice from long range. He’s gone 6-of-9 from 3 over the last two games and is shooting 35.7% from distance over the last five games.
With Young and Murray continuing to find ways to get their teammates open, Collins will continue to benefit from the consistent ball movement. Young and Murray’s assists on Friday accounted for 46 points and Collins’ 17 points came off their feeds.
4. The Hawks knew that they needed to outrebound a physical Knicks team. With the return of Clint Capela over the last two games, the Hawks continue to have stellar play from their frontcourt.
Capela and Collins each pulled down nine rebounds a piece, while Onyeka Okongwu had seven rebounds. Both Capela and Okongwu combined for eight of the Hawks’ offensive rebounds, which netted the Hawks a season-high 23 second-chance points.
The Hawks had struggled on the offensive boards, especially in Capela’s absence. But over the last two games, they’ve averaged 19 second-chance points.
5. After picking up their fifth straight win, the Hawks have continued to climb in the standings and now sit one game ahead of the Pacers. The Hawks are within striking distance of getting back into the top six, with just a half-game separating them from the Heat, who they defeated Monday, and the Knicks.
Last season, the Hawks were 17-25 by the time their Martin Luther King Day game rolled around. Then they went on a seven-game win streak but ultimately finished the regular season in ninth.
They know all of their upcoming games will be important.
“I know we have a couple of games on the road next week,” Young said. “So just making sure we take care of business at home, it’s important for us and we got another team coming in tomorrow.”
Stat to know
200 — The win marked the Hawks’ 200th all-time win over the Knicks, moving the club’s record to 200-187. It’s the second-most victories against a single team in franchise history (Detroit, 216).
Quotable
“I was coming off the screen. I mean, they’re in drop coverage. And I forgot who popped or set the screen. But I knew it was one of our bigs who could shoot, maybe it was JC (John Collins), but I was just trying to fake them and make Julius (Randle) go back to his man just for a second for me to get around him and that’s all it was.” — Trae Young on his fake pass before going in for the layup in the third quarter.
Up next
The Hawks host the Hornets on Saturday.
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