New York Knicks @ Atlanta Hawks
Thursday, April 23, 2026 at 7:00 PM ET
State Farm Arena, Atlanta, GA | Game ID: 42500123
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Final
ATL 33 25 30 21 109NYK 21 29 30 28 108
ESPN UpdateESPN Update
McCollum ruins Knicks' night again, leading the Hawks to a 109-108 victory and a 2-1 lead
ATLANTA -- — CJ McCollum hit a fadeaway jumper with 12.5 seconds left to ruin New York's night again, leading the Atlanta Hawks to a 109-108 victory and a 2-1 lead over the Knicks in their first-round playoff series on Thursday night.
After starring in a Game 2 stunner at Madison Square Garden, McCollum got the ball with his team trailing by a point. He came through again from 15 feet, finishing with 23 points.
Hawks coach Quin Snyder called it “a great shot,” but stressed the effort of his entire team.
“They work, they share,” Snyder said. “That's the thing about this group that I've enjoyed so much.”
The Hawks led nearly the entire game, building an 18-point lead in the first half. But New York rallied for a 108-105 edge on Jalen Brunson 's three-point play with 1:03 remaining.
After Jalen Johnson , who led the Hawks with 24 points, rolled in a shot, Josh Hart missed a 3-pointer for the Knicks. New York got the offensive rebound, but couldn't get off a shot ahead of the 24-second clock.
“You couldn't ask for anything better than that,” Knicks coach Mike Brown lamented. “Less than a minute to go in the game and a chance to go up by three.”
The Knicks failed to get off a shot at the end, either, as Brunson turned the ball over and the horn sounded.
Jonathan Kuminga had a huge night for the Hawks off the bench, finishing with 21 points.
OG Anunoby led the Knicks with 29 points, Brunson had 26 and Karl-Anthony Towns chipped in with 21. It wasn't enough for New York.
Brown griped about the officiating, believing the refs missed some calls at the basket. But he stressed that his team must make better decisions going forward.
Game 4 is Saturday in Atlanta.
“They're closing out hard," Brown said of the Hawks. ”It's a tough game for the officials to officiate, but I know we got fouled on a few of the tries that didn't get called."
McCollum picked up were he left off at Madison Square Garden, hitting a step-back jumper beyond the arc for Atlanta's first points. He had 16 by the halftime break.
McCollum showed off more than his offensive skills. After Hart scooped up a loose ball and drove toward the hoop with only the Atlanta guard to beat, McCollum blocked the shot and sent the ball off Hart's foot to give possession back to the Hawks.
The Hawks outscored the Knicks 27-12 over the final seven minutes of the opening quarter, turning the game in their favor with an 11-0 spurt and closing the period with three straight 3-pointers. The first was by little-used center Mouhamed Gueye , left wide open by the New York defense, followed by two straight from backup forward Kuminga to send the State Farm Arena crowd into a frenzy.
But, with the Hawks on the verge of blowing the game open late in the first half, New York closed the the period on a 12-2 run . Atlanta went to the locker room with a 58-50 lead.
Who is who
the initials in the Players column
NYKJA J. Alvarado
JB J. Brunson
JC J. Clarkson
JH J. Hart
KT K. Towns
MB M. Bridges
MM M. McBride
MR M. Robinson
OA O. Anunoby
ATLCK C. Kispert
CM C. McCollum
DD D. Daniels
GV G. Vincent
JJ J. Johnson
JK J. Kuminga
MG M. Gueye
NA N. Alexander-Walker
OO O. Okongwu
NYK/ATL the team itself, not a player
-- the feed named nobody
What
What happened
the codes in the Events column
M2 / M3 made 2 / made 3
X2 / X3 missed 2 / missed 3
FT / X1 free throw made / missed
AST assist
OR / DR offensive / defensive rebound
STL steal
BLK block
TO turnover
FL foul
OF offensive foul — ends the possession
VIOL violation
JUMP jump ball
TM timeout
IR instant replay
HE heave at the buzzer, filed to the team
Where
Where a shot came from
the middle field of M3.LW.25
RM at the rim inside 4 ft
RC right corner
RW right wing
SO straight on
LW left wing
LC left corner
M3.LW.25 made 3, left wing, 25 ft
X2.RM.01 missed 2, at the rim, 1 ft
When
When it happened
the Offset column
one number per event, in the Events order:
whole seconds from the start of the
possession to that event
Events FL X3.RC.23 OR M2.RM.01
Offset 0 18 22 24
the foul opens the possession at 0s;
the putback ends it at 24s, which is
the possession's own Dur