By: Jennifer Portee
4/29/2026
Jalen Brunson didn’t just score 39 points Tuesday night he nearly added another 40-point playoff game to a postseason résumé. New York’s 126-97 win against Atlanta gave the Knicks a 3-2 lead in the first-round series and moved them one win away from the second round.
What started as a tight series has changed in New York’s favor. The Hawks had taken a 2-1 lead with back-to-back one-point wins in Games 2 and 3, but the Knicks have answered with two straight blowouts, including a 114-98 win in Game 4 & then completely took over on Tuesday night. The score never felt close once New York started to separate in the second half.
Brunson was once again the star of the night. He already had eight 40-point playoff games in his first three postseasons with the Knicks, and he came within reach of another before scoring17 points in the fourth quarter to shut down any hope of an Atlanta comeback.
That’s been the difference lately: Brunson played with patience early, then turned it up when the game needed a final break. That kind of timing can feel heavier than the raw numbers, because it leaves the other team chasing the whole night.
The Knicks got plenty of help around him. OG Anunoby added 17 points and 10 rebounds, while Karl-Anthony Towns delivered 16 points, 14 rebounds and six assists, giving New York a steady two-way presence that showed up in all the places that matter in the playoffs. Jalen Johnson led Atlanta with 18 points, 10 rebounds and six assists, Dyson Daniels scored 17, and Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Onyeka Okongwu each finished with 16, but the Hawks never found enough from the group that had carried them earlier in the series.
The difference was physical as much as it was offensive. New York outrebounded Atlanta 48-27 and held a 13-4 advantage in fast-break points, two numbers that said a lot about how the Knicks dictated the game. Atlanta needed to win the transition battle and bring energy early, but instead New York was the team setting the terms.
The Knicks came out sharp, hitting eight of their first 12 shots and riding a 9-0 run late in the first quarter to build a 35-22 lead. Brunson then finished the second quarter with back-to-back baskets during an 8-0 burst that pushed the margin to 59-37, and New York went into halftime up 64-48 after shooting 58.5 percent from the field.
From there, the lead only grew. Up 18 after three quarters, the Knicks put it away when Brunson sparked a 12-0 run with a three-point play and a 3-pointer that made it 110-82. Once that stretch hit, the rest of the night felt like a slow walk to the finish line.
“We’ve got to be prepared and we know what’s coming, so we’ll be ready,” Knicks reserve Jordan Clarkson said. Brunson kept the message simple too, saying the team has played better over the last two games but knows it still has to stay locked in for Game 6. “Anything can happen in this series,” he said.
That’s the right kind of caution, even with the momentum New York has built. The Knicks now have a chance to close the series Thursday night in Atlanta, and if they don’t, they’d get a Game 7 back at home. But after two straight blowouts and a growing gap between the teams, it’s getting harder to picture this series coming back to New York at all.
New York is no longer just surviving the series. It’s starting to own it.