RECAP: Zaccharie Risacher has Career Night As Hawks Defeat The Knicks 121-116

Atlanta is now 4-5 this season as they head out for a road game vs the Pistons

Nov 6, 2024; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Atlanta Hawks forward Zaccharie Risacher (10) shoots against the New York Knicks during the second half at State Farm Arena. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-Imagn Images / Dale Zanine-Imagn Images

Just two nights removed from their worst loss of the season, the Hawks bounced back against one of the NBA's best teams. Atlanta defeated the New York Knicks tonight 121-116 and the biggest star of the game was the Hawks No. 1 pick Zaccharie Risacher. Risacher has been doing a lot of the little things right for the Hawks, but scoring and shooting have been coming along slowly to start the year. Tonight, everything clicked for the Hawks No. 1 pick.

Risacher finished the game with 33 points on 11-18 shooting and 6-10 from three, while also grabbing seven rebounds, getting three steals, and not turning the ball over. It was the best performance by a rookie in the NBA this season and it came against one of the NBA's premier teams.

Zaccharie Risacher tallied 33 PTS, 7 REB, 3 AST, 2 BLK & 3 STL tonight, becoming just the 10th rookie in the NBA since at least 1973-74 (when BLK & STL were officially recorded) to finish a game with those minimums and the first rookie since Chris Webber (3/13/94) to do so.

— Hawks PR (@HawksPR) November 7, 2024

Risacher was not the only player who played well tonight. After getting off to a slow start, Trae Young finished with 23 points and 10 assists. Jalen Johnson flirted with a triple-double, scoring 23 points, grabbing 15 rebounds, and handing out seven assists. It was the trio that carried the Hawks across the finish line and got them their biggest win of the year.

They had to withstand a barrage of threes from the Knicks though to be able to get it done. After a tough first quarter, New York had an onslaught of threes that nearly won them the game. The Knicks were 22-47 from three (47&%) and they still lost. Karl-Anthony Towns had a huge night with 34 points and 16 rebounds, but they did not get nearly enough from their star point guard Jalen Brunson, who had 21 points and four assists. It was not a bad game from Brunson, but Dyson Daniels was making life hard on him all game. Outside of Deuce McBride, the Knicks bench did not have anything tonight.

Overall, this was an excellent win for the Hawks in what was a playoff-like atmosphere in November. They hope they can carry that momentum into the upcoming games and start to string some wins together.

The Hawks started Trae Young, Dyson Daniels, Zaccharie Risacher, Jalen Johnson, and Clint Capela.

The first five on the floor for the Knicks were Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart, Mikal Bridges, OG Anunoby, and Karl-Anthony Towns.

In the early going, the Hawks defense was not allowing the Knicks to get going. They held New York to 3-11 and 1-7 from three going into the first timeout of the game with 6:39 left in the first quarter. RIsacher led all scorers with six points, while Johnson and Capela had four each. Atlanta led 14-7 and looked sharp.

The Hawks defense in the first half would continue to play well and they led 26-22 after the first period. Risacher still had six points, but it was Towns that led all scorers with nine points. Brunson, the Knicks star guard, was having a difficult time handling the defense of Dyson Daniels in the early going. The Hawks held the Knicks to 29% from three in the first quarter, but that trend would not continue in the next quarter.

Zacch for 3 gets us started pic.twitter.com/PIKAMs8EEB

— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) November 7, 2024

As good as the Hawks defense was in the first quarter, it was equally as poor in the second quarter.

The Knicks found their three point shooting as soon as the second quarter started. They hit five of their first six three-pointers and cut the lead to 43-39, but they soon led 50-44 with 4:52 left in the half.

After a slow start, Young finally found his groove, but the story of the 1st half was Risacher. He has been doing a lot of little things well so far in the early stages of his career, but the shots had not been falling.

Tonight was a different story.

Risacher shot 8-11 from the field and 5-7 from three and had 22 points in the first half. It was the most points in a half by a rookie this season. After the Knicks got a lead, Risacher and Young got the Hawks back in the game and they led New York 65-61 at halftime.

Zacch AGAIN pic.twitter.com/bpN4NAxGD5

— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) November 7, 2024

Risacher led the Hawks with 22 points and he also had three rebounds and two assists. Young had 10 points and six assists. Atlanta shot 46% from the field and 44% from three in the first half.

Towns led the Knicks with 20 points and nine rebounds. The Knicks shot 47% from the field and 50% from three in the first half. In the second quarter alone, New York was 10-14 from three.

The offense for the Knicks was carried over into the third quarter. While Daniels was able to play great defense on Brunson in the first half, the Knicks star was able to get it going in the third. The two teams played a contested back and forth quarter that resulted in an 89-89 tie going into the final quarter of the game. It looked like it was going to be 89-87 in favor of the Knicks, but a last second put-back for Jalen Johnson got the game all knotted up.

Exactly how this play was designed pic.twitter.com/POqxJS3MlK

— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) November 7, 2024

The Hawks started the 4th quarter with Young on the bench and the Knicks had Brunson on the bench. Neither team was able to seperate from the other in the first four minutes of the quarter and when Atlanta called a timeout with 7:56 left in the game, New York led 101-100 and both stars were getting ready to check back in.

The game would continue to be a close back and forth for the next few minutes, with neither being able to seperate from the other on offense. Trailing 110-108, the Hawks needed to get a stop on defense or the Knicks looked like they were pulling away. They got the stop, Risacher got a huge rebound and then hit a floater on the other end to tie the game 110-110.

On the other end, Brunson split a pair of free throws and the Hawks were trailing by one. On the other end though, Capela was fouled by the Knicks and faced two huge free throws. Capela is not known as one of the Hawks's better free-throw shooters, but he nailed them both and the Hawks lead stretched to 114-11.

After another miss by Brunson on the other end, it was starting to look like all the Hawks had to do was hit their free throws and they would get out with a win. That is exactly what they did and two nights after suffering the worst loss of the season, the Hawks got their best win of the season 121-116. The team is now 4-5 heading into a matchup with Detroit. That game is going to be the first night of a back-to-back, and the Hawks also face the Bulls on Saturday night.