Atlanta's Playoff Blowout to The Knicks Continues To Fuel Them Ahead of the 2026-2027 Season

The Atlanta Hawks were one of the best stories in the NBA during the latter part of the season. After trading Trae Young and completely reshaping their team, Atlanta went 20-6 after the All-Star Break, Jalen Johnson became the face of the franchise, and the Hawks had one of the best defenses and starting lineups in the NBA. They avoided the play-in tournament for the first time since 2021 and got back in the postseason for the first time since 2023.

They drew a familiar opponent in the first round of the playoffs. The New York Knicks certainly had more talent than Atlanta, but they were not playing well coming into the postseason and there were some out there that picked the Hawks to pull the upset. After they took a 2-1 series lead, all the pressure in the world was on the Knicks.

They responded and responded emphatically, leaving no doubt about who the best team in the series was and who the best team in the NBA was. New York would blow out the Hawks in the final three games of the series, including a 51-point beatdown in game six in Atlanta, and would only lose one more game on their way to the NBA Championship.

That loss stung and Johnson said as much the day after the game, noting that this loss was going to fuel the Hawks through the offseason and they would make sure they would not experience something like that again:

"It just sucks. I think that's the best way to sum it up. It sucks. It's a terrible feeling. It's not the way you want a series to end, of course. It's just a lot of fuel going into the next season, a lot of fuel going into the offseason for everybody. We're going to make sure this never happens again. We never get this type of feeling again. It's just a sick feeling to our stomach, so it's been tough for sure."

Fast forward nearly five months and that loss is still continuing to fuel the Hawks. Atlanta begins training camp next week and President of Basketball Operations Onsi Saleh talked about how that was not the way they wanted their season to end and that loss and series has fueled this team:

"But I felt like the way that it ended also propelled our guys to develop a lot more this summer. There was a motivation for a lot of our guys, like Jalen, Dyson, Nickeil, Onyeka. Those guys got a lot better this summer in a lot of ways. And I think just watching the playoffs and going through it, the additions we made, both in the draft and through trade, I felt like we got better this year."

The forgotten team

The Eastern Conference has had a busy summer and for the first time in a long time, it might be better and deeper than the Western Conference.

The Knicks are still the defending champions; Philadelphia added LeBron James and Jaylen Brown; Kawhi Leonard is back in Toronto; Miami finally acquired Giannis Antetokounmpo; Cleveland made a big bet on Peyton Watson; Detroit, Orlando, Indiana, Charlotte, and Washington all have reason to believe they can be postseason contenders as well.

It felt like the Hawks were one of the only teams that opted to bank on player development, add through the draft, and make smaller transactions to address their depth. That is what they did, but they are not being considered as a lock to keep their playoff spot and that is fair.

Given all of the teams I just listed, there are going to be four disappointed teams at the end of the season that they did not make the playoffs. Will the patient approach work for the Hawks or will they leave this season knowing they have more to add?

We will learn the answer to that question over the next 82 games and see if the Hawks have truly grown since being embarrassed by the Knicks.

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