The Knicks are back in the driver’s seat in their NBA first round series with the Hawks. New York coasted to a 114-98 victory in Game 4, and with the series now tied, 2-2, Mike Brown’s crew once again owns home court advantage.
Below, we will dish out a betting preview for Game 5 of the series, which is set to play out Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden.
Hawks at Knicks Game 5
Date/location: Tuesday, April 28/Madison Square Garden
Start time/TV: 8 p.m. ET, NBC/Peacock
The Knicks are a -6.5 favorite for Game 5. New York is -275 on the moneyline.
The total for the game is 213.0.
Both of the Knicks’ losses in this series were by one point. New York has outscored the Hawks 441-416 so far in the series.
The Knicks did a much better job on CJ McCollum in Game 4, limiting the Hawks star to just 17 points. That was a series low, as McCollum tallied 26 points in Game 1, 32 points in Game 2, and 23 points in Game 3. McCollum’s points Over/Under for Game 5 is set at 19.5 at Fanatics Sportsbook.
Offensively, the Knicks opted to have the offense flow through Karl-Anthony Towns in Game 4, which proved to be a brilliant decision. KAT finished with a triple-double, scoring 20 points, pulling down 10 rebounds, and dishing out 10 assists. The 10 assists were particularly impressive considering the big man had never posted more than five assists in a playoff game before. KAT’s Over/Unders at Fanatics for Game 5 are set at 20.5 points, 11.5 rebounds, and 3.5 assists.
The Hawks made their bones in the regular season by spreading the wealth on offense. Quin Snyder’s group led the NBA in the regular season in team assists, at 30.1 per game. So far in this Knicks series, Atlanta is averaging just 21.5 assists per game.
A big part of the Hawks’ struggles is that the Knicks defense is effectively silencing Jalen Johnson. Johnson’s scoring has dipped from 22.5 points per game to 19.5 points per game, and the assist numbers are even more dramatic as they have gone from 7.9 per game to just 4.8 per game.
Johnson had a plus/minus of -19 in Game 4, which was the worst number of any player on either team in that contest.
The Knicks’ Jalen Brunson was relatively quiet in Game 4 as he had 19 points and 3 assists in 34 minutes. OG Anunoby picked up the scoring slack for the Knicks with 22 points in 40 minutes.
The total for Game 5 is set at 213.0 at Fanatics. Here is a look at the totals for each game of this series thus far:
- Game 4: Knicks 114, Hawks 98 (Combined 212)
- Game 3: Hawks 109, Knicks 108 (Combined 217)
- Game 2: Hawks 107, Knicks 106 (Combined 213)
- Game 1: Knicks 113, Hawks 102 (Combined 215 )
