Knicks‑Hawks is live
- The NBA first round still mostly favors higher seeds, but Knicks‑Hawks Game 3 is an even matchup. (nytimes.com) - The Athletic notes better seeds are favored in seven of eight series, with Rockets‑Lakers the main outlier. (nytimes.com) - That makes Knicks‑Hawks one of the clearest swing spots, where a single game could flip series momentum. ( )
Knicks-Hawks shifts to Atlanta on Thursday, April 23, with the first-round series tied 1-1 and Game 3 set for 7 p.m. Eastern at State Farm Arena. (nba.com, espn.com) New York took Game 1, 113-102, at Madison Square Garden on April 18. Atlanta answered on April 20 with a 107-106 win after erasing a 12-point fourth-quarter deficit. (nba.com, espn.com) The matchup is unusually tight for this round. The Knicks were the East’s No. 3 seed at 53-29, and the Hawks were No. 6 at 46-36, but the first two games produced a split and a combined margin of just 10 points. (espn.com, nba.com) Most of the 2026 first round has leaned toward the higher seed, with the league’s official bracket showing the usual 1-through-8 structure and home-court edge opening each series. Knicks-Hawks stands out because the lower seed already stole a road game before the series changed cities. (nba.com, nba.com) Game 3 matters because it is the first playoff game in Atlanta in this series and because it decides which team leaves Friday with a 2-1 lead. Game 4 is also in Atlanta on Saturday, April 25, before the series returns to New York for Game 5 on April 28. (nba.com, espn.com) The first two games have also been driven by lead guards. Jalen Brunson averaged 28.5 points and 7.0 assists through two games for New York, while C.J. McCollum averaged 29.0 points for Atlanta and scored 32 in the Hawks’ Game 2 win. (nba.com, espn.com) Atlanta’s Game 2 comeback added the sharpest swing in the series so far. NBA.com said New York had been 40-1 in the shot-clock era when leading by 12 or more points after three quarters in the postseason before that loss. (nba.com) The regular season offered little separation, either. NBA.com’s Game 2 summary said New York won two of the three regular-season meetings by three points, while Atlanta’s lone win came by two points. (nba.com) Thursday’s game is available on Prime Video, according to ESPN and NBA.com listings. By the end of the night, Knicks-Hawks will either look like a standard higher-seed series again or the East bracket’s most unsettled first-round matchup. (espn.com, nba.com)
