RECAP: Trae Young Scores 38, But Hawks Narrowly Fall to Knicks on the Road In Heartbreaking OT Thriller, 149-148

The Hawks did an excellent job of staying with New York despite an excellent night from Karl-Anthony Towns and Jalen Brunson, but came up short at the end.

Rohan Raman | Feb 12, 2025

Feb 12, 2025; New York, New York, USA; New York Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns (32) looks to drive past Atlanta Hawks forward Onyeka Okongwu (17) in the second quarter at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images / Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images

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Atlanta Hawks

After a frustrating nine-game losing streak heading into the trade deadline, the Hawks added some depth to their bench unit in the form of Georges Niang, Terence Mann and Caris LeVert. Those new addtions played a massive role in their 3-0 run after the deadline and Atlanta had an excellent opportunity to make it four straight wins against the Knicks.

They did everything short of getting the win tonight despite being vastly outmatched. After a poor first half, Trae Young led the Hawks with 38 points and 19 assists. He looked excellent as a facilitator and scorer, including giving them a chance to win it in OT. Onyeka Okongwu had 21 points and 14 rebounds while Dyson Daniels had 23 points and notched his second straight game with 4 steals. Off the bench, Niang and LeVert went for 21 and 20 points respectively. Niang hit four threes and was instrumental towards Atlanta's offense while LeVert's activity on both ends showed up in a big way. They effectively carried the Hawks' second unit.

For New York, Karl-Anthony Towns was unstoppable. He had a staggering 44 points on 7-10 shooting from deep while pulling down 10 rebounds, Jalen Brunson was also fantastic with 36 points of his own, including the last-second jumper to basically win it for New York. An 18 point, 10 rebound double-double from Josh Hart and a 26 point performance from Precious Achiuwa made the difference for the Knicks down the stretch.

Let's recap tonight's game.

Per usual, Atlanta started off the game with some offensive struggles. In the first quarter, they shot 36.4% from the field and only connected on four of their 13 attempts from deep. Conversely, they allowed the Knicks to shoot 65.2% from the field and 40% from deep. Young got off to a poor start by throwing a bad pass that ended up in the hands of Towns and then smoking a layup on the next possesion for Atlanta. Poor rim finishing was a big component of the first half for Atlanta - they started the game by going 20% on shots from inside six feet.

Fortunately, Gueye got Atlanta on the board with a pair of free throws before Risacher did an excellent job of getting himself open for a three-pointer. His shooting from deep has been much better as of late and it's a very encouraging sign for his potential. Dyson Daniels also had an excellent quarter, hitting two threes and playing great defense on Brunson. Unfortunately, the Hawks had no other answers for him and he scored 14 in the quarter. As expected, Towns did plenty of damage in the first quarter, eclipsing double-digit points and burying a three-pointer in the first quarter. However, Okongwu did offer some resistance against the seven-footer. He blocked Towns twice and certainly did not back down from the matchup. The Hawks tried multiple different looks, bringing Niang off the bench to replace Gueye and LeVert in for Young. Still, Atlanta ended the quarter with a nine point deficit at 38-29.

Things did not get much better in the second quarter. LeVert opened up the quarter with a layup to make it a seven-point game, but New York answered right back with a bucket from Payne. LeVert actually scored the first six points of the quarter for Atlanta and looked very comfortable driving towards the basket. However, Towns scored eight points in quick succession as Atlanta went cold on offense. He brought the Knicks up to a 52-37 lead and it was beginning to look ugly for the Hawks. Fortunately, Risacher sparked some life back into a dormant Atlanta offense with a layup of his own on a nice pass from Okongwu. Not to be outdone, Towns buried a three-pointer to make it a 55-39 game and forced Quin Snyder to call a timeout. Simpy put, the Hawks could not slow him down as he recorded 21 points with six minutes still left to go in the quarter. The bench played well for the Hawks, outscoring the Knicks' bench 15-2, but it did not matter due to their inability to get stops on Towns.

Young could not get anything going with his shot, so Daniels took it upon himself to carry the Hawks in this one. He scored eight points and stripped Towns of the ball, which allowed the Hawks to make it a 66-54 game. The Hawks went on a 8-0 run towards the end of the second quarter and it allowed them to cut the deficit to 10 points after being down by 18 earlier. Young found Okongwu for a buzzer-beater layup to make it an 8-point game heading into half.

Atlanta's bench unit, speaheaded by LeVert, scored 22 points to a combined 2 points for the Knicks bench. While Atlanta shot 41% from the field and 23.5% from deep, they were able to slow New York's offense down towards the end of the half. Daniels led the Hawks in scoring with 18 points while no other Hawks starter had double-digit points. Young had a terrible first half from a scoring standpoint, only scoring 7 points on 2-11 shooting and missing both of his attempts from deep. However, he did rack up nine assists in the first half.

The Hawks opened up the third quarter on an alley-oop from Young to Okongwu before Okongwu went right back up on the next possession to cut the lead to four. Achiuwa gave the Knicks some breathing room with a jumper before Towns went on a 6-0 run for the Knicks to extend the lead to 12. Fortunately, Risacher answered back by sinking two free throws and poking the ball away from Brunson to sink a jumper that cut the lead to eight. Ultimately, it meant little as Towns sank a deep three-pointer and nailed a floater to extend the lead back up to 13. It gave him 36 points on the night with 20 minutes still left in the game and marked his fifth three of the game. Unfortunately, Atlanta does not have a reliable defensive answer for big men who can shoot and it really showed throughout this game.

Young found Risacher and Okongwu for dunks to give the Hawks some life, but the Knicks kept answering back with buckets of their own. Even though his shot was off in this one, Young absolutely made an impact through his passing. It's been ridiculously easy for him to get double-digit assists this year and his playmaking makes him a staple of the lineup even when his scoring numbers are down. Still, Snyder called a timeout after a Bridges jumper and brought Niang to give Young some rest. LeVert immediately found him for a massive three-pointer that cut the lead to nine. Risacher followed it up with a three-pointer of his own. Of course, Towns immediately answered with his sixth three of the night, but the Hawks battled back to make it a five-point game after good finishes from LeVert and Okongwu. Even though Towns could not miss, Atlanta largely did an excellent job of immediately responding to him and forcing him to settle for those threes. The results weren't great, but the overall process is sound.

Suddenly, Atlanta's offense flipped a switch in the last three minutes of the game. They finished the third quarter with 40 points largely due to some solid defense and timely three-point shooting. LeVert found Niang for another three-pointer with 1:36 left before Trae sunk a deep three to make it a 104-101 game heading into a critical fourth quarter.

Unfortunately, the Hawks started the quarter by giving up a 9-0 run. Fortunately, Young stopped the bleeding with a pair of free throws before Risacher threw down a dunk to make it a ten-point game. LeVert hit a stepback three to bring the deficit to seven before Hart tipped a basket in to make it a 121-112 game. The Knicks called a timeout shortly after, but it seemed to be Atlanta who really took advantage of the time. Young promptly hit a stepback three and then found Niang for a layup on the very next possession. Once again, the Hawks were within three points and Towns came up with a bucket when New York hit a lull. His seventh three of the night was immediately answered by yet another three-pointer from Young to make it a 124-121 game. After a slow start in the first half, Young looked much better in the second half and bailed Atlanta out of several offensive possessions by either making an excellent pass or hitting a deep three.

With four minutes left in the game, Young kept it going with a floater to bring the Hawks within two. Brunson hit a pair of free throws to make it a 126-123 game, but Atlanta refused to go away. Achiuwa made a pair of free throws, but Young found Dyson under the basket. He made it a 128-127 game before Brunson hit a floater with 1:09 left. Young and Achiuwa traded buckets before Niang and Hart got tangled up while going for a loose ball. Niang was called for the foul and Hart hit both free throws, but the new Hawk made up for it by sinking a three - his fourth of the game - to make it a three-point game with nine seconds left. Daniels lurked a Towns pass and forced the big man to foul him, hitting one of the two free throws before Okongwu jumped over everyone and grabbed the rebound. He got it to Young, who the Knicks fouled, and Young sank both to make it a tie game at 137. The Knicks only had 2.2 seconds to make something happen, but Brunson missed the three and sent the game to overtime.

It was one of the best clutch performances that the Hawks had all year and Young was determined not to waste it. He opened OT up with a floater before finding LeVert on the perimeter, who buried the triple. Unfortunately, Daniels fouled Brunson, who hit both free throws and then hit a jumper to give New York a 143-142 lead. Fortunately, Atlanta's rebounding showed up in the clutch as Okongwu grabbed his 13th rebound of the game and scored a critical basket to make it a 144-143 game. Once again, Hart got to the line and sank both FTs before Achiuwa threw down a dunk. Young then hit a floater with 1 minute left before Okongwu sank two free throws to give the Hawks a slim 148-147 lead. Sadly, Brunson hit the dagger on a jumper to ice the game for New York before Bridges blocked Young's last-second shot.

Despite a stellar performance from their bench where they outscored the Knicks' second unit, 48-14, the combination of Towns and Brunson was too much for Atlanta to handle down the stretch. It would have been massive to get this win heading into the All-Star break, but it does give them something to build on in the last part of the regular season.

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