A First-Round NBA Playoffs Collapse Could Signal the End of This Knicks Core

From a floor seat in Atlanta, Knicks owner James Dolan watched a nightmare unfold. Three months ago Dolan boldly proclaimed his team should-not would, should-win a championship, raising the bar for one of last season's conference finalists even higher. On Thursday, Dolan was one of 18,452 inside State Farm Arena watching the Hawks squeeze out a 109–108 Game 3 win-and push New York closer to a catastrophic NBA playoffs first-round elimination.

"We know we didn't play our best basketball," said Knicks coach Mike Brown.

Said Jalen Brunson, "Missed opportunity, for sure."

This shouldn't be happening. The Knicks have Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns. They are getting beat by CJ McCollum and Jonathan Kuminga. The third-seeded Knicks have a core that's been together for several years. The sixth-seed Hawks traded away their superstar (Trae Young) at midseason and needed a second-half surge to avoid the play-in. New York is built to win now. Atlanta is trying to win … eventually.

But it is happening. Atlanta is running New York off the three-point line. It is sprinting out in transition. It is matching a bigger Knicks team on the glass. McCollum has turned into a Young-level villain. Kuminga (sorry, Warriors) is living up to his potential. The Hawks are playing like a team that wants to win this series. The Knicks look like one that feels entitled to it.

"Atlanta, they're trying to get up in us," said Brown. "They're trying to speed us up. They're playing physical. And when you face that type of defense, you can't play on your heels. You can't be passive at all."

Let's keep it a buck here, folks: Brown has been terrible. Bad substitutions, bad play-calling, bad everything. Too often he has left Brunson alone to defend McCollum. Mikal Bridges has regressed to the point of being unplayable. Brown's out-of-timeout plays have been uninspiring. Down eight points at the start of the fourth quarter, Brown went without Brunson or Towns on the floor. When they checked back in 2 ½ minutes later, the Knicks were down 10.

New York's final possession was brutal. Down a point with 12.5 seconds left, the Knicks tried to inbound the ball to Brunson. Couldn't do it. Josh Hart got his hands on it, eventually got it to Brunson who was bottled up on the baseline and threw it away. Brown, hilariously, suggested after the game that the play went as designed.

"We wanted to … clear that right side of the floor for him because that's what he's comfortable doing and tell him to go win it," said Brown.

Said Brunson, "I've made a lot of plays going right. Clearly not this time."

Brown didn't sound any alarms after the game. Seven-game series, he told his team in the locker room. Long way to go. Brown reminded reporters that Oklahoma City trailed 2–1 in a series last year. "And they ended up winning it," Brown said. The Knicks have played poorly the last two games. And they have lost by only a combined two points.

"This should sting because we gave ourselves a chance knowing that we didn't play our best basketball," said Brown. "So it should sting, but we need to feel it and get ready to be locked in for the next game, which we will be."

We'll see. Game 3 winners of 1–1 series have gone on to win 74% of them. The Knicks have played 20 seven-game series in their history when they have trailed 2–1 after Game 3. They have lost 17 of them. Brown is right-New York has played badly. But there's no certainty that they will play better. There's no reviving Bridges, who went scoreless in 21 minutes. Hart played 40 minutes and went 1 of 9. Mitchell Robinson logged just 11 minutes, with Brown deeming a Robinson-Towns pairing unplayable.

"We need something from everybody," said Brown.

If they don't, look out. Billy Donovan is a free agent. Don't think that went unnoticed. Giannis Antetokounmpo is expected to be traded this offseason. New York has made a run at Antetokounmpo before. Expect the Knicks to do it again. This iteration of the Knicks, a team that cracked 50 wins for the last three seasons, could be finished.

"It's tough. We've got to keep our head up," said Towns. "It's O.K. to be disappointed, that means we care. Got to get the next one."

The future of the team depends on it.

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This article was originally published on www.si.com as A First-Round NBA Playoffs Collapse Could Signal the End of This Knicks Core.

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This story was originally published April 23, 2026 at 11:02 PM.