Atlanta Hawks Player Grades: CJ McCollum, Jalen Johnson's Game Five Performance Against The Knicks

How did the Hawks grade out in their game five loss to the Knicks?

Apr 28, 2026; New York, New York, USA; Atlanta Hawks forward Jalen Johnson (1) controls the ball against New York Knicks forward OG Anunoby (8) during the third quarter of game five of the first round of the 2026 NBA Playoffs at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-Imagn Images | Brad Penner-Imagn Images

After another dissappointing performance, the Atlanta Hawks season is on the verge of ending unless they can turn things around quickly.

Atlanta trailed by 13 after the first quarter tonight and could not get the game back to single digits at any point the rest of the way. After no showing in game four at home, the Hawks somehow played worse against the Knicks with a chance to go up 3-2 in the series.

Let's grade the performances tonight.

CJ McCollum- F

This was a brutal game for McCollum. He had turned into the hero after games two and three, but the Knicks have completely taken him out of the series in the last games.

Tonight, McCollum scored six points on 3-10 shooting and had four turnovers, as well as playing poor defense. It was his worst game of the playoffs and arguably the worst game he played as a Hawk.

Nickeil Alexander-Walker: C-

He hit some shots tonight (4-9 from three) and finished with 16 points, but was not very impactful on either end of the court. It has been a pretty tough series for NAW and tonight was not much different.

Dyson Daniels: C+

I thought this was an acceptable game from Daniels, even if he was a -17 during his time on the floor. He started the game more aggressive on offense and even hit a couple of threes, but this was a subpar defensive game from him and he still passed on some open shot attempts.

The Knicks are daring Daniels to do any kind of scoring on offense and he has to take advantage.

Jalen Johnson: D+

The counting stats are not terrible (18 points, 10 rebounds and five assists on 7-15 shooting), but Johnson also had three turnovers and played really poor defense. It has not been the kind of series that the Hawks needed from him and time is running out if he wants to make his imprint on the series.

Onyeka Okongwu: C+

Okongwu has showed his importance in this series and was 2-4 from three tonight, but he also played a poor game on defense. He has been underrated this series, but he play well enough to have the Hawks competitive.

Jonathan Kuminga: F

Another poor game from Kuminga and he has done a complete 180 since his strong play in games two and three. Kuminga has gotten worse on defense, taking ill advised shots, and not being effective. He has been a hot and cold player with the Hawks and he has gone cold in the last two games. Atlanta needs the other version of Kuminga in a bad way on Thursday.

Gabe Vincent- D

Vincent was -20 and was getting picked on quite a bit on defense. He scored six points and one assist in the game tonight and he has not been effective for the Hawks.

Corey Kispert and Tony Bradley- F

Kispert and Bradley are going to be grouped together because they both did about the same thing in this game and that amounted to nothing. They both scored zero points and Bradley even picked up five fouls. He has been put in a tough position due to being signed less than a month ago, but it is not working when he is on the court. Kispert is supposed to bring offense and shooting, but he was 0-4 tonight. Bradley was -17 in 13:29 of game time. That is pretty hard to do.