Knicks fall short to the Hawks: 3 major takeaways from Game 1

The Knicks played an extremely competitive game in game 1 of their series with the Atlanta Hawks but lost in heartbreaking fashion. This was a very winnable game as the Knicks had a 5 point lead with 4 minutes and 46 seconds left in the game.

Julius Randle struggled mightily with his shooting but Alec Burks was making up for it with a hot shooting performance of his own. Alec Burks had 27 points and 4 assists on 9 of 13 shooting with several big shots down the stretch of the game. But unfortunately, the Knicks could not get the crucial stops to close out the game.

Every time the Knicks hit a big shot in the 4th quarter the Hawks were able to answer with a big shot of their own. Trae Young destroyed the Knicks, finishing with 32 points, 7 rebounds, and 10 assists. He completely took over down the stretch of the game and hit the cold-blooded game-winning layup over Julius Randle’s outstretched arm to win the game.

Now the pressure is really on the Knicks to win game 2 because if they go down 0-2 in the series, they’ll be putting themselves in a massive hole with the next two games being in Atlanta.

According to Land of Basketball, teams that go up 2-0 end up winning the series nearly 94% of the time. Game 2 is undoubtedly a must-win game for the Knicks. With that said, let’s take a look at the 3 biggest takeaways from game 1 between the New York Knicks and Atlanta Hawks.