Hawks snag road upset
- The Atlanta Hawks pulled a surprising road upset over the New York Knicks in the opening playoff series. (cbssports.com) - CBS Sports flagged that win as one of the early series shake-ups shifting first-round expectations. (cbssports.com) - The Athletic now lists Knicks–Hawks Game 3 as a pick ’em after Atlanta’s momentum swing. (nytimes.com)
Atlanta walked into Madison Square Garden on April 20 and left with a 107-106 win that turned a one-sided series into a live one. (nba.com) The Hawks were down 12 entering the fourth quarter, then closed the game with a comeback that tied the first-round series 1-1. CJ McCollum scored 32 points and hit the go-ahead basket with 34 seconds left. (nba.com) Jonathan Kuminga added 19 points off Atlanta’s bench, and the Hawks repeatedly hunted Jalen Brunson in late switches to create their closing shots. New York had been 39-0 this season when leading by at least 12 points in the fourth quarter before Monday night. (nba.com) That result flipped the shape of the series in two days. New York won Game 1 at home, 113-102, but Atlanta’s split at Madison Square Garden sent the matchup to Georgia even instead of with the Knicks up 2-0. (nba.com) The seeding still says Knicks over Hawks, 3 versus 6, and the regular season says New York finished 53-29 to Atlanta’s 46-36. The series scoreboard now says something tighter: Game 3 is Thursday, April 23, at 7 p.m. Eastern in Atlanta. (cbssports.com) CBS Sports grouped Atlanta’s win with Minnesota’s in Denver as the road upsets that broke up an otherwise chalky opening weekend. By April 22, CBS counted five upsets across six playoff games over two days. (cbssports.com) Betting markets moved with it. NBC Sports listed Atlanta as the home side with the edge for Game 3 on April 22, and DraftKings showed the Hawks as 1.5-point favorites for Thursday’s game. (nbcsports.com) (draftkings.com) That is the shift Atlanta earned in 48 minutes at the Garden: the lower seed stole home court, the series is even, and the Knicks now have to answer in a building where the Hawks can take control Thursday night. (nba.com)
