Sports media reacts to Knicks’ record blowout of Hawks
Credit: imagn images via Reuters Connect The New York Knicks put a record beatdown on the Atlanta Hawks in Game 6 of their Eastern Conference first round playoff series. After what had been a fairly competitive first five games, nobody could have expected what was to come in Game 6 of the series in Atlanta. The Hawks actually jumped out to an 11-9 lead in the early minutes, but from then on it was a Knicks surge unlike the NBA postseason has ever seen.
By the end of the first quarter, New York had a 40-15 lead thanks to a 31-4 spurt to end the period. At halftime, it was a 83-36 game. The 47-point lead was the largest halftime lead in the history of the NBA playoffs.
It smashed the previous record of 41 points held by the 2025 Indiana Pacers and 2017 Cleveland Cavaliers. The destruction was so dominant that there wasn’t much that the Inside the NBA crew could even say at halftime to chronicle what they saw. Charles Barkley condemned the Hawks not to Cancun or even Galveston but the cursed and haunted Lake Lanier in Georgia.
Shaquille O’Neal held a funeral for a small hawk doll. Aside from that, it was a question of whether or not the Knicks would even bother to play their starters for the second half for fear of injury or altercation. The Inside crew is already calling it pic.
twitter. com/UMJMweW7n5 — SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) May 1, 2026 As for the rest of the sports media world who was watching on Thursday night, it was complete shock and awe that the most lopsided half in the history of the NBA Playoffs appeared to come from out of nowhere. The Atlanta Hawks game plan against the Knicks pic.