The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly From Atlanta's Loss to the Knicks

The Hawks played a tight game with the Knicks last night, but fourth quarter heroics from Jalen Brunson

Apr 6, 2026; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Atlanta Hawks guard CJ McCollum (3) makes a shot from beyond half court that would have tied the game but was after time expired against the New York Knicks during the second half at State Farm Arena. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-Imagn Images | Dale Zanine-Imagn Images

In what was the best NBA game of the night, the Hawks and the Knicks battled till the very last shot and New York came out on top. It was a playoff like atmostphere and the game was played with the intensity and physicality of a postseason game.

Despite the Hawks losing this game, they have to feel something about being able to go toe to toe with one of the favorites in the Eastern Conference. They want to win these games of course, but they are continuing to show that their late season surge is not a fluke.

Let's break down the good, the bad, and the ugly from last night.

The Good

Apr 6, 2026; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Atlanta Hawks guard Nickeil Alexander-Walker (7) shoots over New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson (11) during the second half at State Farm Arena. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-Imagn Images | Dale Zanine-Imagn Images

Nickeil Alexander-Walker tallied a game-high 36 points on 12-19 shooting, including 7-11 from beyond the arc, to go along with two rebounds and three assists in 39 minutes of play, marking his 74th game of the season with 10-or-more points, the third-most double-digit scoring outings amongst all players in the NBA this season and the most by an Eastern Conference player. Alexander-Walker has recorded his 15th career game with 30+ points. Of his 15 career 30-point performances, 10 have come since joining the Hawks this season.

With his seven makes from deep, Alexander-Walker has knocked down 244 three-pointers this season, surpassing Bogdan Bogdanovic (240, 2023-24) for the most triples in a single season in franchise history. The Virginia Tech product has buried at least one three-pointer in 25 consecutive contests, the second-longest such streak of his career.

Dyson Daniels recorded 11 points in addition to a game-high tying 12 rebounds, three assists and two steals in 38 minutes of action, marking his league-leading 49th multi-steal game of the season. With his ninth rebound of the game, Daniels grabbed his 500th board of the season, becoming just the second Hawks guard in franchise history to record 500 rebounds in a single season, joining Lou Hudson in 1968-69 (533).

Jalen Johnson recorded 21 points, shooting 3-5 from deep, in addition to 11 rebounds and five assists in 41 minutes of play, marking his 48th double-double of the season, the third-most such games in the NBA this season. In tonight's victory, Johnson notched his 28th game of the season with 20+ points and 10+ rebounds, the most by a Hawk in a season since Kevin Willis in 1993-94 (31).

CJ McCollum recorded 17 points in addition to six assists, three rebounds, two steals, and two blocks in 35 minutes of play, marking his 66th game of the season scoring 10-or-more points.

Onyeka Okongwu recorded 12 points in addition to eight rebounds in 37 minutes of action, marking his 60th double-digit scoring performance of the season and the 205th of his career.

The Hawks had 19 offensive rebounds last night and actually finished with an edge on the glass.

Atlanta won the possession battle, taking 11 more shots than the Knicks.

Atlanta held New York to 11-33 shooting from three.

The Bad

The offense was not good enough for the Hawks, despite the big night from Alexander-Walker. Atlanta shot 41.5% on twos and Atlanta missed a lot of shots that they normally make. If you want to feel good about this loss if you are a Hawks fan, I think you can count on them making those shots more often than not, but they did not have it last night.

Atlanta was outscored 52-34 in the paint.

While the Hawks grabbed 19 offensive rebounds, they were only able to score 13 second chance points.

The Knicks scored 21 points off the Hawks 15 turnovers.

The Knicks had 29 assists last night, Hawks had 23. Atlanta leads the league in assists and it is rare to see them lose that stat.

The Ugly

The Hawks sorely missed Jock Landale in this game. While the Hawks won the overall rebounding battle, they allowed Mitchell Robinson to come off the bench and score eight points and grab 12 rebounds. His presence against Mouahmed Gueye and the backup bigs was noticeable and if these two do end up meeting in the postseason, that will be something to watch.

While he is one of the most clutch players in the league, the Hawks cannot allow Jalen Brunson to score 17 points in the fourth quarter. He took over the game and won it on his own in the final quarter.