NBA playoffs 2026 takeaways: MSG has a new villain in CJ McCollum after Hawks shock Knicks

NEW YORK — The version of the Atlanta Hawks that entered the 2026 NBA playoffs is drastically different from the one that began the campaign back in October. Franchise centerpiece Trae Young is gone; so, too, is key offseason addition Kristaps Porziņģis. The team dramatically reoriented its identity in early January, changed its starting lineup in February, and hit the gas after the All-Star break — a whiplash-inducing sprint to the East’s No.

6 seed. “The guys that have been here through that — Jalen [Johnson] , Nickeil [Alexander-Walker] , Dyson [Daniels] and Onyeka [Okongwu], those guys in particular — you know, to see them kind of hang in there and believe in what we were trying to do foundationally and kind of our identity, and get rewarded for it,” head coach Quin Snyder said before Game 2. “We're happy to be here, grateful to be here and all that, but at the same time, I just don't want to put a ceiling on this group.

We are young. First time, kind of, our core guys have been in this situation. “But at the same time, you know, I think it's also true that you can embrace the opportunity to have success in the playoffs, as well.

” And now, after a rough run in Game 1 , these young Hawks have some success in the playoffs, erasing a 12-point fourth-quarter deficit to score a 107-106 victory that shocked the Madison Square Garden faithful and wrested home-court advantage away from the favored Knicks, knotting the best-of-seven series at 1-1 as the scene shifts to Atlanta. Game 3 tips at State Farm Arena at 7 p. m.