NBA

Atlanta Hawks at New York Knicks

· NBA Cup - Quarterfinals
14-12, 7-6 Away
Final
108 - 100

15-10, 8-4 Home

Hawks rally for a 108-100 victory over the Knicks and a trip to the NBA Cup semifinals

Karl-Anthony Towns gets up for the beautiful dunk

Hunter scored 24 points and Johnson had 21 points, 15 rebounds and seven assists for the Hawks, who were perhaps the surprise team of the tournament after knocking off the defending champion Celtics in Boston and NBA-leading Cleveland Cavaliers in group play to reach the knockout stage as the No. 3 seed in the East.

Now they will face another East power, the top-seeded Milwaukee Bucks, on Saturday in a semifinal matchup.

Josh Hart scored 21 points and Karl-Anthony Towns had 19 points and 19 rebounds for the Knicks, who went 4-0 in group play and shot out to a 12-point lead Wednesday. But as in the 2021 playoffs, it was Young who was celebrating on the floor of Madison Square Garden after eliminating the Knicks.

Takeaway Hawks: Just advancing out of a tough pool group would have been a great experience for some young Hawks players. Now they can go and win the whole thing with two victories in Las Vegas.

Knicks: One of the favorites to win the tournament had a shockingly poor second half and fell to 0-2 against Atlanta this season.

Key moment The Knicks led 66-62 before Young scored eight straight points, pointing to the floor after a 31-footer for his second consecutive 3-pointer. Hunter then hit a 3 to cap an 11-0 surge during which Atlanta took its first lead of the game and went ahead 73-66.

Key stat Atlanta outscored New York 61-46 in the second half.

Up next While the Hawks go to Las Vegas, the Knicks will go to Orlando for a game Sunday.

Regular Season Series

ATL leads series 2-0

Matchup Prediction

Knicks: 59.8%
Hawks: 40.2%
*According to ESPN's Basketball Power Index

Recent Plays

4th 0.0 End of Game 108 - 100
4th 0.0 End of the 4th Quarter 108 - 100
4th 21.1 Jalen Brunson bad pass (Trae Young steals) 108 - 100
4th 23.1 Knicks Full timeout 108 - 100
4th 23.1 Clint Capela makes free throw 2 of 2 108 - 100

Statistics

https://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=/i/teamlogos/nba/500/atl.png&h=100&scale=crop&w=100&location=originATL https://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=/i/teamlogos/nba/500/ny.png&h=100&scale=crop&w=100&location=originNY
43-104 FG 40-93
41.3 Field Goal % 43.0
9-31 3PT 11-42
29.0 Three Point % 26.2
13-20 FT 9-15
65.0 Free Throw % 60.0
58 Rebounds 49
22 Offensive Rebounds 12
36 Defensive Rebounds 37
27 Assists 27
5 Steals 8
7 Blocks 11
10 Turnovers 12
1 Team Turnovers 3
11 Total Turnovers 15
0 Technical Fouls 0
0 Total Technical Fouls 0
0 Flagrant Fouls 0
18 Points Conceded Off Turnovers 13
20 Fast Break Points 10
66 Points in Paint 54
13 Fouls 14
14 Largest Lead 12

Game Information

Madison Square Garden

Location: New York, NY
Attendance: 19,812 · Capacity:

2024-25 Southeast Standings

TEAM W L PCT GB STRK
Orlando 19 12 .613 - W2
Miami 14 13 .519 3 W1
Atlanta 15 15 .500 3.5 W1
Charlotte 7 22 .241 11 L5
Washington 4 23 .148 13 L2

2024-25 Atlantic Standings

TEAM W L PCT GB STRK
Boston 22 7 .759 - L1
New York 19 10 .655 3 W4
Brooklyn 11 18 .379 11 L2
Philadelphia 10 17 .370 11 W1
Toronto 7 23 .233 15.5 L8
Full Standings

NBA News

Breakout seasons for NBA players under age 25: Nine most improved

Breakout seasons for NBA players under age 25: Nine most improved

The 2021 No. 1 pick finally figuring it out? A bright spot on the middling Hawks? The stats behind the improvement of these under-25 NBA players stand out.

NBA betting: One bet to make on each of the awards races

NBA betting: One bet to make on each of the awards races

Andre Snellings and Eric Moody pinpoint one bet to make on each of the NBA awards. races.

NBA on Christmas Day: Key questions, top players, big matchups

NBA on Christmas Day: Key questions, top players, big matchups

LeBron vs. Steph and Wemby's Christmas Day debut -- our NBA insiders preview the five-game holiday slate by answering team's biggest questions.

Fantasy basketball trade targets: Who to trade, acquire heading into 2025

Fantasy basketball trade targets: Who to trade, acquire heading into 2025

The fantasy crew comes together and details the players that managers should be trading away and trading for at this stage of the NBA season.

Warriors' Kuminga responds to Kerr criticism by starring off bench

Warriors' Kuminga responds to Kerr criticism by starring off bench

After Warriors coach Steve Kerr delivered his most pointed criticism about Jonathan Kuminga's decision-making and shot selection of late, the fourth-year forward responded with one of his best and most aggressive games of the season Monday night.