The Hawks pulled off a thrilling 109-108 victory to climb to a 2-1 record in this series against the New York Knicks.
After going up by as much as 18 points, the Hawks let their orange and blue rivals chip away slowly until they took a 3-point lead late. Frankly, the Hawks largely defended well down the stretch, but nothing could stop OG Anunoby from raining down a pair of miracle threes to raise everyone’s heart rates.
But then CJ McCollum’s and Onyeka Okongwu’s clutch heroics saved the day for the good
guys.
Let’s mix things up and go player by player to grade them on their performances in Game 3.
Starters
CJ McCollum:
The professional bucket getter just kept plugging along, getting into his bag almost at will. He had the entire Knicks defense practically on a string all game long.
Even when he was defended well, he pulled rabbits out of his hat and displayed some incredible shot-making:
Towards the end of the second quarter, his gameplay devolved into an overreliance on isolation — a lot of dribbling for a not-so-good look at the ends of the shot clock. But sometimes you have to let an artist craft their art and not interfere.
He slowed down scoring-wise some in the second half — and he was often a target on the defensive end — so it wasn’t all good. But honestly, who cares when you have the onions to make a clutch pull up jumper to give the Hawks the lead. When duty calls, McCollum the veteran absolutely delivers:
“Quin drew up a winner for us,” McCollum remarked about the final basket. “Great pin [down from Kuminga]. Great [after timeout] guy. Great all-around coach. Executed just how we drew it up. Those are the things we work on in practice, after practice, post shootaround.”
“He can create his shot,” coach Snyder put succinctly. “And that’s unique thing. And he had the opportunity to do that tonight. And we had a ton of confidence in him to make those plays.”
Grade: A
Nickeil Alexander-Walker:
‘NAW’ still didn’t look comfortable out there just as has been the case all series. He lost his dribble against no pressure a couple of time and forced a few too many shots in traffic.
But he was still active on team defense as usual and nailed his defensive assignments when needed. Also, that man never takes a closeout off — even if it’s not his assignment.
In the second half, he hit two big transition threes to shake off the rust and remind everyone why he’s the single season franchise record-holder in made threes with 251 in regular season play.
On this third one, I have to credit the entire team for getting the ball inbounded after a Brunson make to not squander their 5-on-4 advantage. Alexander-Walker does the rest, draining his third transition triple of the period.
From there, he was fairly quiet, but his hustle and team defense still made an impact in helping the Hawks get this game over the finish line.
He’ll look to improve on his 14 points on 4-for-12 (33%) including an ugly 1-for-5 (20%) mark from two-point range on Saturday.
Grade: C-
Dyson Daniels:
Daniels pushed the ball in transition and found a couple of openings in the Knicks transition defense with his passing. He continued to make Jalen Brunson’s life tough on the other end and slowed down New York’s entire offensive pace with his elite ball pressure.
There were a few possessions he absolutely wrecked possessions with digs for steals or simply a monster block at the rim.
And he also proved why he’s maybe the best rebounding guard in the game with 13 rebounds tonight. Just Dyson Daniels things.
On the negative side of things, he did pass up a couple of wide-open layups and muff a couple of attempts through contact at the rim — as did Jalen Johnson who I’ll talk about next. Although in the third, he made up for those turndowns with a calm catch-and-shoot three after penetration and a kick from Johnson:
And, man, did he have some brutal turnovers (five in total) during the game. Multiple times, he tried to kick out some blind passes that went directly into Knicks’ hands. And he wasn’t able to punish the Knicks for putting Karl-Anthony Towns on him offensively.
So, for the second consecutive game, coach Snyder opted to have him on the bench in crunch time — minus the final defensive possession. You can’t argue with the results, however.
Ultimately, it wasn’t his best effort on Thursday night. But he still showed how indispensable he is in making Brunson’s life hell at times.
Grade: C+
Jalen Johnson:
The All-Star came out more aggressive than in either Games 1 or 2, and even though some of his shot selection was questionable, he still got to the line with regularity and put pressure on the Knicks defense.
This drive off a ‘twirl’ action with two pin downs was too easy once the Knicks inexplicably vacated the paint:
After a hot start, however, he couldn’t convert on some good looks from three and started to disengage a bit from the game. He had a tough time finishing through contact on drives in particular. And then there were some bad off ball lapses on defense.
But in the fourth quarter, the aggressiveness picked back up. On two consecutive possessions, he dropped off Josh Hart for a step back three:
And then he screened and rolled to draw a foul, splitting the two at the line.
But ultimately, he left a ton of points on the floor and at the free throw line. He finished 6-for-10 from the free throw line, including a couple of brutal misses on a trip to the line with a few minutes remaining. Johnson did respond with a couple of good takes in the closing two minutes when the game could have slipped away entirely — very encouraging after he showed clear signs of frustration on his face after some easy misses.
Down the home stretch of the game, the Hawks ran this action with Johnson bringing the ball up the floor with a stacked set waiting for him multiple times. Either Kuminga or Okongwu set an up screen while ‘NAW’ flares out the opposite way to open up the lane.
This play in particular was wild to see in real time, however. Johnson tried to yam it over ’KAT’, but the ball somehow slams off the glass right back to him for the easier lay-in to cut the lead to one point:
“It was good to see [Johnson] play through a lot and stay even keeled,” his head coach had to say about his mindset.
It was an up and down performance for Johnson, whose 24-point, 10-rebound, 8-assist night flatters him. But I’d have to say it was his best performance of the series — a performance closer to his typical regular season play.
And the Hawks needed every bit of that from him in Game 3.
Grade: B-
Onyeka Okongwu:
It was overall a fairly muted game from Okongwu. He played solid defense on Towns early and throughout the game, and he registered a monster help side block early in the first quarter.
But ‘KAT’ largely got the better of him on the glass in the first half. He also wasn’t used much in the halfcourt offense but used a ‘pick-2’ and a couple of deafening putback dunks to get himself on the board in the first half:
Ultimately, he was pretty quiet on a play-by-play basis (nine points and seven rebounds), but his team defense at the center position was pretty effective all throughout the night.
His biggest play, however, came on the final possession when he switched onto Jalen Brunson and slid his feet to push him to the baseline. As you saw, the Knicks never even got off a shot:
Grade: B+
Bench
Gabe Vincent:
Vincent came in and immediately provided some great ball pressure on Brunson and Jose Alvarado.
On offense, he relocated for a big three after a flare cut across the top of the key in the first quarter. His ball handling under pressure remains underrated as well, with the Hawks bench needing his steadying presence against an aggressive Knicks perimeter defense.
His contributions are almost imperceptible, but he’s such a fundamentally sound defender on and off the ball and is willing to get off the ball to space the floor on offense that he fits in just about any with playmakers at the wing and forward spots.
All those little things added up to a team-high +12 on the night in under 14 minutes. You can’t ask for much more from a seasoned NBA role player.
Grade: B
Jonathan Kuminga:
I can’t knock a 4-for-4 shooting performance for 10 points in the first quarter, plus he contributed on the glass as usual. Everything after that was a bit more mixed, however. He had some erratic shot selection choices — twice turning down open threes for tougher midrange attempts in the halfcourt — but he still had a couple of good leakouts for scores.
His energy and physicality these past two games are just something the Knicks haven’t been ready for, and that’s help boost a Hawks bench that needed the punch:
His defense was a less impactful than in the previous two games with him inexplicably trying to take charges in the lane on a handful of occasions. Still, with him playing small ball defense on Karl-Anthony Towns, he frustrated the Big Purr just enough by pushing him off his comfort spots. And that crossmatch allows the Hawks to play a small ball brand on the other end with all five guys spacing the floor.
Kuminga’s quickly fit into the Hawks’ team defense, and his impact hasn’t gone unnoticed in his short time here.
“I’m going to give my praise to Draymond [Green],” Kuminga responded about a Game 2 play instructing where Alexander-Walker should be on defense. “Growing up around him, watching him as much. I’ve seen him do that so many times. […] He’s one of the best at doing small things that won’t go on the [stat] sheet.”
Overall, it was a great performance off the bench for him with 21 huge points on 9-for-14 shooting. He has essentially become the team’s sixth man down the stretch of this season, with coach Snyder trusting him enough to close a tight playoff game over Dyson Daniels.
“Jonathan’s just been all-in,” coach Snyder had to say postgame. “Are you prepared to sacrifice what needs to be sacrifice on a given night in a playoff game? Whatever that looks like. Is it shots? Is it minutes? Is it rotations? He’s embraced that. Tonight he did some things that gave our team a lift. I think the biggest thing he’s done is he’s just defended.”
Needless to say, it’s remarkable that in his short time here he’s earned that level of trust from his coach.
Grade: A
Mouhamed Gueye:
Gueye had a tough time keeping Mitchell Robinson off the glass early on, but he repaid the favor with a catch-and-shoot triple and a late first quarter crosscourt pass for a Kuminga triple as well.
And then there was a minster putback dunk on the first possession of the second quarter — plus his usually disruptive switching defense stamped his name on the box score and the highlight reels alike. That’s how you feelin’, Mo?
Grade: A-
Corey Kispert:
He was just…there. Krispert Kispert got cooked by Jordan Clarkson once. He did have a nice outlet pass to Kuminga in the fourth quarter, however.
Grade: D+
