By Omar | Sports Desk | FixItWhy Media | April 23, 2026
The New York Knicks walked out of Madison Square Garden on Monday night with their hands on their heads and a 1-1 series on their back. CJ McCollum — yes, the guy Atlanta traded for in January in the Trae Young deal — hit them with 32 points and a crunch-time jumper with 33 seconds left to steal Game 2 by a score of 107-106. Now the series shifts to State Farm Arena in Atlanta for Game 3 tonight at 7 p.m. ET, and suddenly this feels like a very different playoff series than the one New York thought they had locked up three nights ago.
If Thibodeau’s group drops this one on the road, they are staring at a 1-2 hole against a Hawks team that just found its closer. If they win, the Knicks reestablish home-court and put Atlanta on life support. There is no in-between. This is the swing game.
Our Take: McCollum Is the New MSG Villain, and Atlanta Is Fine With That
See also: Why the Knicks Took Game 1 From Atlanta: Brunson’s Command and the Trae Young-Si · Why Lakers-Rockets Game 3 Tonight Could End This Series Before the Weekend · Why the Flyers–Penguins Game 2 Tonight Could Flip the Battle of Pennsylvania on
Let’s name what actually happened in Game 2. Atlanta was down 12 after three quarters. On the road. With the Knicks crowd sensing a 2-0 sweep setup. And then CJ McCollum — a 34-year-old shooting guard everyone kept writing eulogies about during his Portland twilight years — reminded the league that vintage McCollum with a fresh pair of legs is a problem. Back-to-back mid-range jumpers with the game on the line, a step-back fadeaway over a contest, cold-blooded free throws. Thirty-two points, nine of them in the final three minutes.
The delicious subplot: the Hawks got McCollum in the January trade that sent Trae Young to Washington. Young was the original villain of Madison Square Garden — the guy who made the “hush the crowd” gesture in 2021 and has been booed at MSG ever since. Trae is gone. The villain role is not. McCollum absorbed it the moment he put on a Hawks jersey, and MSG chants from Game 1 proved it. Now he is the guy killing Knicks dreams in the final minute.
From a pure basketball standpoint, here is why Game 2 actually flipped: Atlanta finally stopped turning it over (only 9 TOs in Game 2 vs. 17 in Game 1), finally got real rim-protection minutes out of Jalen Johnson as a small-ball five, and forced Jalen Brunson into an inefficient night (7-of-22 from the floor). That combination is repeatable. That combination travels home to State Farm Arena.
Why This Matters: The Whole East Is Watching
The East bracket is top-heavy and chaotic this year. Cleveland is already up 2-0 on Toronto. Boston is in a dogfight with Philadelphia. If the 2-seed Knicks drop Game 3 and fall into a 1-2 hole, the bracket breaks wide open. A Hawks team that seemed like a fun-but-flawed 7-seed story suddenly becomes a live threat to reach the second round. And every other East contender has to recalibrate how hard the Knicks look as a potential second-round matchup.
There is also a career-arc story here. Jalen Brunson got an MVP-tier contract extension last summer. Julius Randle has quietly had his best playoff series of his career so far. Tom Thibodeau is on a short leash with Knicks fans who remember last year’s second-round implosion. If the group looks passive tonight in Atlanta, the postseason narrative around this team turns ugly fast.
For Atlanta, this is their chance to prove the McCollum trade was not a salary dump. Quin Snyder has a legit coaching-of-the-year case if the Hawks pull a first-round upset. And a 25-year-old Jalen Johnson getting 15+ playoff games of reps is how you build a real team around a star.
What Happens Next: Three Things to Watch Tonight
1. Does Brunson shoot himself out of it? Seven of 22 in Game 2 is not panic territory, but Atlanta has figured out a wrinkle. Watch for Onyeka Okongwu showing harder on every Brunson pick-and-roll to force the ball out of his hands. If Brunson starts hunting his shot over a contested trap, Atlanta will live with that outcome all night.
2. Can OG Anunoby guard McCollum in the fourth? Thibodeau left DiVincenzo on McCollum for most of Game 2’s final five minutes. That was a mistake. Expect a coverage switch tonight — Anunoby is the team’s best perimeter defender and there is no reason to save him for a Trae-Young-style shot-creator who is not on this roster. Get length and quickness on McCollum late.
3. The Jalen Johnson minutes-at-center experiment. When Snyder went small-ball with Johnson at the five in the fourth quarter of Game 2, Atlanta outscored New York 22-11. That is a massive swing. If Thibodeau does not have an answer — either by playing Isaiah Hartenstein off the floor or by running actions right at Johnson — Atlanta will go to that lineup again and again.
Prediction: This feels like a Knicks response game. New York tightens up the turnovers (they had 14 in Game 2), Brunson settles into the pick-and-roll instead of forcing iso, and Anunoby locks McCollum down for long stretches. Knicks take it on the road, 108-99, and the series gets back to 2-1 in favor of New York heading into Saturday’s Game 4.
But if the Knicks come out flat in a hostile building and Trae Young… wait, we mean CJ McCollum… gets going early, this entire East bracket could look very different by Friday morning.
FAQ
What time does Knicks-Hawks Game 3 start?
Tip-off is 7 p.m. ET on Thursday, April 23, 2026 at State Farm Arena in Atlanta. TNT has the broadcast.
Who is favored?
Atlanta is a 1.5-point home favorite per most major sportsbooks, with the total set at 216.5 points.
Is Trae Young actually playing in this series?
No. Young was traded to Washington in January 2026 in the deal that brought CJ McCollum to Atlanta. So no, the guy who made the “hush the MSG crowd” gesture in 2021 is watching from D.C. — but his former team inherited the villain energy anyway.
What happened in Game 2?
The Hawks trailed by as many as 14 but closed on a 19-8 run to win 107-106. McCollum scored 32, including 9 in the final three minutes. Brunson shot 7-of-22.
How can I watch Game 3?
TNT (cable and streaming via Max B/R Sports add-on). National broadcast only — no local restrictions.
Bottom Line
Game 3 is the swing game. Lose it, and the Knicks are in real trouble. Win it, and this series goes back to being a formality. CJ McCollum just auditioned for the role of Madison Square Garden’s newest villain, and he was very, very convincing. Thibodeau has until 7 p.m. ET to cook up a defensive answer, or Atlanta is going to start believing something the rest of the league is not yet ready to say out loud: this Hawks team might actually win this series.
Pass the popcorn.
Related reading on FixItWhy Media: How VJ Edgecombe Just Outdid Magic Johnson and Put the 76ers Back in the Series — our Game 2 breakdown of the historic rookie performance against Boston.
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