Atlanta Hawks Quotes and Notes: What CJ McCollum and Quin Snyder Said After Game Two Win Over New York

What did the Hawks have to say after their win over the New York Knicks?

Apr 20, 2026; New York, New York, USA; Atlanta Hawks head coach Quin Snyder coaches against the New York Knicks during the first quarter of game two of the first round of the 2026 NBA Playoffs at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-Imagn Images | Brad Penner-Imagn Images

Heading into the fourth quarter of last night's game, the Atlanta Hawks trailed by 12 and it looked like they were going to fall behind in the series to the Knicks 2-0.

That is not what happened though.

Thanks to the heroics of CJ McCollum and Nickeil Alexander-Walker in the 4th quarter, Atlanta held the Knicks to 15 points and Mikal Bridges buzzer beating shot missed at the end. Atlanta won 107-106 and we now have an even series between the two teams heading back to Atlanta.

Notable Quotes

McCollum was the hero for the Hawks, but he was not viewed the same way by Knicks fans, who were chanting some not so nice things about the Hawks guard. He was asked about that after the game:

“I am no villain. I'm a nice guy with two kids and a wife. I think it's admiration. Great passionate fans in a really hostile environment. It’s fun. It’s basketball. It’s the playoffs. If anything, I think it's a sign of respect.”

"That got CJ going. He enjoyed that. The crowd shouldn't really do that. It really got him going. Got all of us going" –– Jonathan Kuminga on Knicks fans chanting at McCollum in the Garden

Q: "It looked like you were––maybe intentionally maybe not but…that matchup against Jalen…did you like what you had in those 1-on-1 scenarios…?"

CJ McCollum: "What you think?"

Q: "Yeah"

CJ: "Yeah"

"They're such a good team. They're so hard to guard offensively. I think our guys understand when they do score, you just can't get discouraged"–– Hawks HC Quin Snyder

Notes

The Hawks held the Knicks to 15 points in the 4th quarter of game two and 10 of those came from Jalen Brunson. The Hawks were able to hold Karl-Anthony Towns scorless in the last quarter and New York shot 5-22 overall. The Hawks fourth quarter defense and timely shotmaking from CJ McCollum sealed this win for Atlanta.

The bench for the Hawks was much better tonight then it was in game one. Jonathan Kuminga had 19 of the 28 bench points, but Tony Bradley did a solid job on the glass when he was in, Gabe Vincent was fine, and Corey Kispert was not a disaster on defense, finishing as a +10 in the nearly nine minutes that he played.

Hawks lost the rebounding battle 47-36 in this game.

While not impossible, it would have been tough for the Hawks to come back from a 2-0 deficit in the series. Now, they have home-court advantage, and if they win every home game the rest of the series, they will be moving on to the Eastern Conference Semifinals.