Why ‘life’s not so bad’ for Hawks’ CJ McCollum heading into Game 5 vs. Knicks

ATLANTA – To some people, the Atlanta Hawks had already exceeded expectations, being up 2-1 against the New York Knicks. After another nail-biting win in Game 3, the Hawks had a chance to make things even worse for the Knicks if they could go up 3-1. Unfortunately for them, the road team woke up in a big way, winning 114-98 and tying the series 2-2 as they head back to Madison Square Garden.

The Hawks didn’t have it from the start, and it bled through the entirety of the game. Shots weren’t falling, they weren’t taking care of the ball, and both of those things led to easy points for the Knicks on the other end.

Jalen Johnson’s struggles continued on both sides of the ball, Dyson Daniels didn’t provide much offense in a game where it was severely lacking, and after two solid games, Jonathan Kuminga came back down to earth in this one.

“They played better than us,” CJ McCollum said after the game. “They played harder, they were more physical. They beat us to loose balls. We had 12 turnovers in the first half; I had 2 or 3 in the first half. Can’t have that. Those are the type of momentum-swinging plays that allowed them to be comfortable.”

“The start of the game, their physicality bothered us,” Quin Snyder said. “We didn’t do the things we needed to do to have success against them. We turned the ball over; there’s no transition when you turn the ball over. We didn’t crash the way we needed to. There were 50/50 balls they came up with. We’ve got to be better. We didn’t do the things we needed to win from that standpoint.”

Despite the struggles, there’s still optimism surrounding the locker room.

“We would like to go up 3-1, but if you’d told us before the series started we’d be 2-2 going back to the garden…life’s not so bad, McCollum said.

“We didn’t expect a sweep,” Nickeil Alexander-Walker said. “We didn’t expect to just come beat them easily… I don’t think many people expected us to do this as well. For us, it was just constructive feedback. We can be better; where did we not do good? It’s kind of who we’ve been since the All-Star break, responding to adversity.”

At the same time, the Hawks know that they need to play better, and they have another chance to do so in Game 5.

“Understanding this is a series, and you can’t get too high or too low,” Snyder said. “Us being up 2-1 shouldn’t impact what we did tonight. We have to get to a level no matter what the game score is in the series, no matter the score is in a given game. Focusing on those things is where we need to be.”

Through four games, the Hawks will probably say they still haven’t played their best game. Even though that may be true, at some point, they’ll have to bring their A-game if they want to win the series.

It’s not do-or-die, but the sense of urgency has to be there heading into Game 5.

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