The NBA schedule-maker has set up an intriguing “This Is Your Life” scenario for the New York Knicks just before the All-Star break. On Wednesday, the Knicks will wrap up a three-game stretch against their most frequently compared peers, hosting the Atlanta Hawks in the final game before the week-long hiatus.
Coming off a back-to-back, the Knicks will enter the game after a 128-115 win over the Indiana Pacers on Tuesday. Karl-Anthony Towns and Josh Hart both posted double-doubles, with Towns scoring 40 points and grabbing 12 rebounds, and Hart adding 30 points and 10 rebounds.
The Hawks, meanwhile, last played on Monday, securing a 112-106 victory against the Orlando Magic. The Knicks’ recent win was a bounce-back after a tough 131-104 home loss to the Boston Celtics on Saturday.
The Knicks have struggled against the Celtics, being outscored 263-213 in their two matchups this season. However, the Tuesday win against the Pacers showed that New York is closer to being on par with Indiana than with Boston.
New York missed the opportunity to face the Celtics in the Eastern Conference finals last spring, falling to the Pacers in a seven-game conference semifinal. Despite Jalen Brunson’s season-low eight points in 23 minutes on Tuesday, the Knicks managed to secure the win. Brunson sat for over 15 minutes after picking up his fifth foul with 8:42 left in the third quarter, but Hart stepped up, scoring 15 points in Brunson’s absence to help extend the Knicks’ lead to 116-100 before Brunson returned.
The Knicks have a history of bouncing back against the Hawks, who eliminated New York in a five-game first-round series in 2021 during Tom Thibodeau’s first season as head coach. Since the start of the 2021-22 campaign, the Knicks are 8-7 against Atlanta, although the Hawks won the first two games this season and eliminated New York from the NBA Cup with a 108-100 quarterfinal victory on Dec. 11.
Currently, the Knicks are in third place in the Eastern Conference, nine games ahead of the seventh-place Miami Heat. The road to a potential playoff rematch is tougher for the Hawks, who sit in eighth place, two games behind the Detroit Pistons for the sixth and final guaranteed postseason spot.
The Hawks have won three straight games and improved to 4-1 since an eight-game losing streak from Jan. 20-Feb. 1. However, their recent victory came at a cost, as Larry Nance Jr. (knee) and Vit Krejci (back) both sustained injuries within 18 seconds of each other in the fourth quarter. Despite the setbacks, Atlanta outscored the Magic 18-12 following Krejci’s exit with 7:43 left. Both Nance and Krejci will sit out on Wednesday.
Trae Young led the Hawks with 11 of his 19 points in the game-ending run, with reserves Terance Mann and Georges Niang contributing a combined five points.
