Knicks begin championship-or-bust playoff run vs. upstart Hawks

The New York Knicks and Atlanta Hawks each were Cinderella stories the last time they opposed each other in the NBA playoffs.

Only the Hawks qualify for that moniker this time around.

The Knicks will begin a championship-or-bust pursuit when they host the Hawks in the first game of a best-of-seven Eastern Conference first-round series Saturday night.

The Knicks (53-29) earned the third seed in the East after recording their most wins since the 2012-13 season. The Hawks (46-36) finished in sixth place and clinched the final guaranteed playoff spot after racking up their most victories since the 2015-16 campaign.

But a successful regular season isn't the goal for the Knicks, who reached the Eastern Conference finals last year for the first time since 2000 yet fired head coach Tom Thibodeau three days after being eliminated by the Indiana Pacers.

Thibodeau directed New York to four playoff berths in five years dating back to 2020-21 -- or as many postseason appearances as the franchise made from 2001-02 through the 2019-20 seasons.

During a rare radio appearance in January, Knicks owner James Dolan said he believed the Knicks should "want to get to the Finals and we should win the Finals." New York hasn't won the NBA title since 1973 and hasn't reached the championship round since 1999.

The Knicks did raise a trophy this season when they won the NBA Cup in December. But the team didn't hoist a banner commemorating that championship -- and any momentum generated by the title run disappeared during a 2-9 skid from Dec. 31 through Jan. 19.

The Knicks went 28-11 the rest of the way, including 15-10 against teams that either made the playoffs or participated in the play-in tournament.

"At the end of the day, we'll be judged on what we do on this run," Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns said.

Expectations were lower for the Hawks, who never built on their deep playoff run in 2021. Led by polarizing point guard Trae Young, Atlanta beat the Knicks in five games that year on its way to reaching the conference finals for the second time since 1970.

The Hawks were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs in 2022 and 2023 before getting knocked out in the play-in tournament in 2024 and 2025. The Young era ended Jan. 7, when he was dealt to the Washington Wizards in exchange for CJ McCollum and Corey Kispert.

At the time of the trade, Atlanta was 18-21 and sitting in ninth place in the East. But the Hawks won 28 of their final 43 games -- including 20 of 26 following the All-Star Break, the third-best record in the NBA.

While Young played in just five games for the Wizards due to back and quad injuries, the 34-year-old McCollum averaged 18.7 points per game while Kispert collected 9.2 points per game as a key reserve over a combined 80 games.

"We've added stuff, we've taken stuff out, we've kind of evaluated what works, what doesn't work and what's going to work for this group," McCollum said.