The Atlanta Hawks got destroyed by the New York Knicks in Game 5, losing by a final score of 126-97.
After the Atlanta Hawks lost to the New York Knicks in Game 5 at Madison Square Garden, head coach Quin Snyder and several key players opened up about the blowout loss.
The Hawks are down 3-2 to the Knicks. One more loss ends Atlanta's special season.
“Their defense never let us establish consistently how we could play to beat them,” Snyder said. “We had some shots that didn’t go in. (The Hawks were 13-of-42 from 3 and missed seven of their 17 free-throw attempts.) That’s always in play. But for us, I think we need to execute who we are and what we’ve done to be a good team. That’s hard when you play against a team of their caliber.
“That level for us, we didn’t hit it. They had a lot to do with that, but that can’t be where it stops. We’ve got to be more committed to that, to play in the way that we know we need to play to be successful.”
The Hawks were outscored by the Knicks 35-22 in the first quarter, 29-26 in the second quarter, 26-24 in the third quarter and 35-26 in the fourth quarter.
“We’ve gotta be better, we’ve gotta come out, we’ve got to play harder," Dyson Daniels said. "They came in and just manhandled us.”
“We just got punked,” Jalen Johnson said.
“They wanted it more, they played harder,” Nickeil Alexander-Walker said.
“We didn’t play Hawks basketball,” Onyeka Okongwu said.
The Hawks had no answer for Knicks star Jalen Brunson, who put up 39 points in 34 minutes while shooting 15-of-23 from the field, 3-of-5 from beyond the arc and 6-of-8 from the free-throw line.
Atlanta was outrebounded by New York 48-27.
“I just think that their mindset was to come out and try to bully us and be physical,” Daniels said. “And they did that. They pushed us under on rebounds. They set really good screens. They did all the little things.”
“We just got to be better on that side of the floor to give us a chance on the other,” Alexander-Walker said. “And vice versa. You know, if you get rebounds, you can run, and that’s what we do. If we get good shots, we can get back on defense. … Basketball’s a two-way sport so, like, we gotta be able to propel us kind of into the next possession, every possession. Offensively, defensively, vice versa. And there’s flashes where our offense may have hurt us that allowed them to go on runs.”
Game 6 between the Hawks and Knicks is on Thursday. Atlanta must win to avoid elimination.
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