Jalen Brunson’s 39-point Game 5 Propels Knicks Into Series Lead Over Hawks

There they are. 

There are the real Knicks. The best version of these Knicks. The Knicks that had gone missing in the middle of the series. 

They had spent the past few days talking about the need to recreate the sense of “desperation” and “urgency” they played with when trailing the series 2-1. And they came out like a team with no interest in playing with its food. 

They put their foot down and blew out the Hawks 126-97 in Game 5 on Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden to take a 3-2 series lead. They head back to Atlanta with a chance to secure their spot in the second round. 

Over the past nine quarters — Games 4 and 5 along with their comeback attempt in Game 3 — the Knicks have outscored the Hawks by 52 points. 

“It’s been a multitude of things,” Jalen Brunson said. “I think we have picked it up as a unit. I also think they’ve gotten a lot of looks and we were lucky when they were missing. But just us being on the same page on both sides of the ball has been a factor.” 

For the second straight game, the Knicks often ran their offense through Karl-Anthony Towns, using him as a hub to initiate their flow. Using him as a focal point — like in Game 4 — brought back the ball movement and fluidity to their offense. And it finally unlocked Brunson, who had by far his best game of the series and finished with a game-high 39 points — on 15-for-23 shooting from the field — along with eight assists and just one turnover. It created open shots for Anunoby, who continued his stellar series and finished with 17 points. 

With 5:01 left in the second quarter, Brunson passed to Towns, curled around him and got it back from him for a wide-open layup to extend the Knicks lead to 16. It was a perfect microcosm of the overall offensive showing. 

“It’s another dimension that we’ve been able to do,” Brunson said of using Towns as a hub. “KAT’s been making great decisions. I think us, playing off-ball, the screens that we’re setting, the pace that we’re cutting, has helped him with that. And also KAT has the ability to go by his defender. There’s a lot of things we can do off of that.” 

The Hawks, after Towns’ triple-double in Game 4, adjusted and had the smaller Dyson Daniels guard Towns to start the game. It backfired. Not only did Towns kill Daniels, but it allowed Brunson to take over without Daniels guarding him until later on in the game. 

By the second quarter, they switched back to having Onyeka Okongwu on Towns. Jonathan Kuminga and Jalen Johnson also got turns on him. The results weren’t much different. Towns finished with 16 points, 14 rebounds and six assists. 

“I think it just gives us life,” Towns said of his passing, “gives energy to the basketball.” 

Brunson went into attack mode late and made sure there wasn’t even a thought of a Hawks comeback, scoring 17 of his points in the fourth quarter. 

“Big game,” Brown said, “from a big-time player.” 

It took a while, but the Knicks’ significant size advantage has manifested the past two games. They had an 18-point advantage in points in the paint. They took just 26 3-pointers — way down from their regular-season average of 38.2 — and instead bullied the Hawks down low. 

“I love it,” coach Mike Brown said. “Our guys have to continue trying to take what’s available. And right now for us, it’s finishing in the paint.” 

Once the Knicks figured out how to stop CJ McCollum, it was as if the Hawks forgot how to score. McCollum returned to MSG as a ghost rather than a villain. With Josh Hart primarily guarding him, McCollum finished with just six points. Johnson, with Anunoby primarily guarding him, was little help himself. 

Anunoby added 10 rebounds — seven of which came in the first quarter, his most in a quarter since 2020 — to finish with a second straight double-double. He went 2-for-3 from deep, continuing his red-hot 3-point shooting. Jose Alvarado — who has firmly surpassed Landry Shamet in the rotation — provided a punch off the bench in the second quarter. He played the first six minutes of the quarter and recorded seven points in that stretch. 

After two straight one-point losses, the Knicks have responded with two straight routs. 

“They’re resilient,” Brown said. “We talked about it throughout the course of the year, you gotta go through some adversity throughout the course of the year to see what you’re made of as a group, see how you’re gonna respond. You just gotta keep fighting. Our guys have been through a lot so far this year and they continue to go through it. They’ve been through it as a group. There is nothing that will deter the group. They’re a veteran group that knows what they want and how to get it no matter what’s in front of them.” 

When the Knicks are clicking like this, there’s little the Hawks can do to stop them.