Jalen Brunson scored 39 points as the New York Knicks routed the Atlanta Hawks 126-97 in Game 5, taking a 3-2 series lead and pushing Atlanta to elimination.
Jalen Brunson scored 39 points, Karl-Anthony Towns added 16 points and 14 rebounds, and the New York Knicks routed the Atlanta Hawks 126-97 on Tuesday night to take a 3-2 lead in their first-round playoff series.
Brunson shot 15-of-23 from the field and 3-of-5 from 3-point range, adding 8 assists for the Knicks, who never trailed and led by as many as 32. OG Anunoby finished with 17 points and 10 rebounds, going 5-of-5 from the free-throw line, while Josh Hart contributed 9 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 assists.
"They did what they were supposed to do, protecting home court," Hawks coach Quin Snyder said. "Their defense never really let us establish consistently how we need to play to beat them, and we have to be more committed to it. It's really like imposing your will, you know, on the offensive end, really moving and passing. You can feel possessions where that occurs, and that's when we have, you know, when we're efficient or have success."
New York opened with a 35-22 first quarter, pushed the lead to 64-48 by halftime, and never let Atlanta closer than 11 the rest of the way. The Knicks shot 57% from the field, 42.3% from 3-point range, and outscored the Hawks 60-42 in the paint, 20-9 in second-chance points, and 13-4 in fast-break points.
Atlanta was outrebounded 48-27 and surrendered 8 offensive rebounds to a New York team that committed to the glass on every possession.
"I just think that their mindset was to come out and try and bully us and be physical, and they did that," Daniels said. "They pushed us under on rebounds. They set really good screens. They did all the little things."
Jalen Johnson paced Atlanta with 18 points, 10 rebounds, and 6 assists. Dyson Daniels added 17 points and 5 assists, while Onyeka Okongwu and Nickeil Alexander-Walker each scored 16. CJ McCollum struggled to 6 points on 3-of-10 shooting with 4 turnovers, and Jonathan Kuminga led the bench with 13 points.
The Hawks shot 44.6% from the field, 31% from 3-point range (13-of-42), and just 58.8% (10-of-17) from the free-throw line. They committed 10 turnovers that led to 10 New York points and were outscored 32-23 in bench production.
"Overall, we just got to play through it. We can't let the physicality take us out of what we want to do," Okongwu said. "We're not really playing like ourselves. We're not running. We're not moving the ball. We're not spacing. Things that we did to get us to this point of the year, we're not doing well enough. So we have to do that on Thursday."
Brunson's 39 points were a series high. Towns recorded his second double-double of the series with 14 rebounds, 13 of them defensive. Anunoby's 10-rebound effort gave the Knicks two players with double-digit boards. Jose Alvarado provided a spark off the bench with 12 points on 4-of-7 shooting in 11:35.
Tony Bradley fouled out in 13:29 off the bench for Atlanta. Asa Newell and Zaccharie Risacher were both healthy scratches, and Jock Landale remained sidelined with a right high-ankle sprain.
Game 6 is set for Thursday in Atlanta, with the Hawks facing elimination at State Farm Arena.