Hawks Take Game 3 and the Series Lead. Knicks Have Work to Do.

This one stings. And we’re not going to pretend otherwise.

The New York Knicks dropped Game 3 in Atlanta tonight. Hawks lead the series 2-1. New York has now lost two straight in this series and faces a situation nobody wanted to be in — needing to win Game 4 on the road just to get back to even.

The Knicks entered this series having led for 91% of both Games 1 and 2. The issue has never been the game plan — it’s been execution in the moments that matter most. Tonight in Atlanta, those moments came and went again without the right answers.

KAT being iced out of the offense in the first half has been a recurring theme. For a player of his caliber, that cannot keep happening in a playoff series. Atlanta knows it. The Knicks coaching staff knows it. The adjustment has to come in Game 4 — get Towns involved early, make the Hawks defend him before they get comfortable.

Jalen Johnson and McCollum have been the difference in this series for Atlanta. New York has to have better answers for both of them going into Game 4.

Down 2-1 is not done. Teams come back from 2-1 deficits all the time. But the margin for error is gone. The Knicks need to play 48 complete minutes in Game 4 — not 36 good ones and one catastrophic quarter.

Game 4 is still in Atlanta. The road doesn’t get easier. But New York has been here before.

This city doesn’t fold. 🔒

Follow every game of the Knicks playoff run at gridlockny.com/knicks