CJ McCollum sinks Knicks again to grant Hawks series lead: Game 3 takeaways April 23, 2026 The New York Knicks’ NBA finals-or-bust mandate is receiving a serious challenge from the Atlanta Hawks. Jalen Johnson scored 24 points on Thursday night as Atlanta led nearly wire-to-wire on the way to a 109-108 victory, handing the Hawks a 2-1 lead in their best-of-seven Eastern Conference first-round series. The No. 6 seed Hawks took an 11-9 lead midway through the first quarter and held it all the way until late in the fourth, when a Jalen Brunson three-point play put the Knicks up 108-105 with 1:03 to go. But Atlanta punched back. Johnson pulled the Hawks within one with a putback before CJ McCollum, who finished with 23 points, hit the game-winner on a fadeaway jumper with 12 seconds to go. OG Anunoby scored 29 points, and Brunson added 26 to lead New York, which will now have to win three of the next four games to avoid elimination. Game 4 is on Saturday in Atlanta. On the game’s final play, after a series of screens pinged Dyson Daniels around like a billiard ball and knocked him to the ground, it was Okongwu who reacted quickly to leave his original assignment and chased Brunson at the 3-point line on the far side of the court. The Hawks’ 6-foot-8 center took away the initial look, forced Brunson to his weaker right hand and cut off any angle for a shot attempt, leaving the Knicks’ star guard to roll a ball hopefully backward that never found a New York teammate before time expired. Hawks defensive ace Dyson Daniels denied Brunson the ball, so Hart had to acquire it into Karl-Anthony Towns and attempt to uncover another way to get it to Brunson as the seconds ticked down. After Towns stuck Daniels with a screen that popped Brunson free, Hawks center Onyeka Okongwu switched out onto the Knicks’ All-Star point guard, who drove hard to his right in search of the paint. “We actually got a switch that we weren’t thinking we’d get, in terms of Okongwu on Jalen,” Knicks head coach Mike Brown told reporters after the game. “And we cleared the side of the floor for him. That’s what we wanted to do — we wanted to zipper him to the top of the floor, and clear that right side of the floor for him, as that’s what he’s comfortable doing, and notify him to go win it.” But as Okongwu tracked Brunson, Jonathan Kuminga peeled off Hart and raced over to spring a double team. Brunson found himself trapped on the baseline, searching for relief. Unfortunately for him, Daniels was stuck on Hart, Jalen Johnson was on top of OG Anunoby, and Nickeil Alexander-Walker was between him and Towns; the Hawks’ swarming late-game defense left him no outlets. Brunson threaded a pass toward Hart, but it bounced clear of his reach and back toward half-court.
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