For the third straight game, the Atlanta Hawks made life difficult for the New York Knicks en route to a victory, this time by a score of 103-89 to advance to the second round of the playoffs.
The Knicks simply could not generate enough offense against the Hawks to keep up, with a deficit that grew greater and greater as the game progressed until the eventual result was no longer in doubt in the mid-fourth quarter, as has been the case throughout the series. Trae Young led the way for the Hawks, scoring 36 points and handing out nine assists as he and the rest of the starting lineup continued to thrash the Knicks.
Young put an exclamation point on the game by drilling the dagger off the logo’s edge and then bowing to Reggie Miller’s joy.
While the Hawks offense was not particularly effective, all five starters scored in double figures, with Clint Capela leading the way with a 14-point, 14-rebound performance to walk the walk after talking the talk in the lead-up to Game 5, doing most of his damage in the first half.
De’Andre Hunter also came through for the Hawks, scoring 15 points on 6-of-11 shooting as one of the few Hawks to find an offensive rhythm in an otherwise sloppy game.
To give you an idea of how bad things were at times in Game 5, the Hawks shot 26.5 percent from three-point range in a game they won by 14, as New York’s offensive issues worsened as they went out with a whimper rather than a bang. Julius Randle had the finest game of the Knicks, scoring 20 points on 7-of-19 shooting, but every possession seemed like a root canal for the Knicks, where even if the intended result of a bucket was reached, it took an excruciating amount of work just to get there.
In the loss, the Knicks shot 37.8% from the floor and had only 31 made field goals compared to 16 turnovers. They simply could not answer to the Hawks’ intensity, and despite their futile attempts to get going with chippy play and after-the-whistle aggressiveness, they were never nearly as engaged through the course of the game as they appeared to be when the whistle blew.
New York’s effort was so dismal that even Spike Lee couldn’t stand watching them go out on a low note in the final minutes, quitting with three minutes to go and Atlanta firmly in control.
The Hawks will move on to face the Sixers on Sunday in Philadelphia, while the Knicks will enter an offseason on a sour note after a spectacular, surprising season. The bitter taste at the end may end up being good for New York, which has clear holes to fill in the offseason and will have seen that on full display in a series most thought would be a toss-up. Atlanta, meanwhile, saw Young step fully into the role of superstar in the postseason for the first time and will now get a very different test in a Sixers team that might at least begin the series without the presence of their MVP candidate in Joel Embiid.
