NBA playoffs: new MSG villain McCollum leads Hawks back from 12 down to stun Knicks | NBA
CJ McCollum scored 32 points and the Atlanta Hawks rallied to stun the New York Knicks 107-106 on Monday night, evening their first-round playoff series at one game apiece.
McCollum led a late surge that almost amounted to nothing when he missed two free throws with 5.6 seconds remaining. The Knicks rushed the ball down the court with no timeouts, but Mikal Bridges missed a jumper as time expired.
“It’s a long game,” McCollum said. “We have to play zero.”
The Hawks had trailed throughout the second half and were down 12 points after three quarters. Atlanta chipped away and a McCollum basket gave the Hawks a 101-100 lead – their first of the series in the second half – with 2:09 left. He made another for a three-point lead, and after Jalen Brunson tied it with a three-pointer, McCollum responded with another jumper to make it 105-103 with 33 seconds left.
Jonathan Kuminga added 19 points off the bench and Jalen Johnson scored 17, including a basket with 10 seconds remaining for a four-point lead for the No. 6 seeds, who host Game 3 on Thursday. Brunson had 29 points for the Knicks and Karl-Anthony Towns added 18.
The Knicks are trying to reach the second round for a fourth straight season, their longest streak since the 1991-92 through 1999-2000 seasons, and appear to be well on their way.
“It’s a game we should have won,” said New York’s Josh Hart. “In the playoffs, you can’t give away games.”
The Knicks were 40-1 in the playoffs since the advent of the shot clock in 1954-55, when they led by 12 or more after three quarters. The only loss came when Reggie Miller scored 25 points in the fourth for Indiana in Game 5 of the 1994 Eastern Conference Finals.
Towns, who had four points in the first half, scored 14 in the third quarter as the Knicks extended the lead to 78-64. They still led by eight with less than five minutes remaining. But their young players who sparked the Hawks’ surge after the All-Star break finally made a few plays before McCollum — ignoring the profane jeers after he and Jose Alvarado went nose-to-nose and each received technical fouls in the third quarter — then closed out the game.
“I’m not a bad guy, I’m a nice guy with two kids and a wife,” McCollum said when asked about the reception he received from the New York crowd. “I think it’s admiration. Great, passionate fans in a hostile environment. It’s fun, it’s basketball, it’s the playoffs. If anything, I think it’s a sign of respect.”
McCollum was acquired from Washington in the January trade for Trae Young, the Hawks star who was a former playoff villain at Madison Square Garden. He filled the role perfectly Monday, outplaying Brunson in the second half and stealing a game that seemed lost.
In Monday’s other games, Anthony Edwards scored 30 points, Julius Randle added 24 and Minnesota beat Denver to even its Western Conference playoff series at 1-1. Denver had won 13 straight since losing on March 18. Elsewhere, Donovan Mitchell scored 30 points, James Harden added 28 and the Cleveland Cavaliers held on for a 115-105 victory over the Toronto Raptors for a 2-0 lead in their Eastern Conference series.
