The New York Knicks are ending 2025 with a peachy outlook, both literally and figuretively.
Comfortably nestled in second place on the Eastern Conference playoff bracket at calendar-year end landmark, the Knicks will close things out with a three-game road trip that begins on Saturday against the Atlanta Hawks. New York will also visit New Orleans and San Antonio before a new tally is added to the year column.
The Knicks are coming off another successful holiday haunt, defeating the Cleveland Cavaliers by a 126-124 final on Thursday at Madison Square Garden. New York erased a 17-point deficit behind the antics of depth stars Jordan Clarkson and Tyler Kolek, who united for 41 points in relief while Jalen Brunson led all New Yorkers with 34. It was the Knicks’ 26th win on Christmas, breaking the tie they previously shared with the Los Angeles Lakers.
The Hawks have fallen back to Earth after a respectable start, entering Saturday’s game on the wrong end of eight of their last ten, including each of their last five. Atlanta will look to salvage a winless homestand, the latest edition to that tally being a 126-111 defeat to the Miami Heat, one that saw recurring Knicks nemesis Trae Young score 30 points in defeat.
This will be the first of three meetings between the Knicks and Hawks this season and part two will open the new year for each side next Friday night. The two sides met five times last year: Atlanta infamously took an NBA Cup quarterfinal matchup in Manhattan but the Knicks won each of the last three get-togethers, capping things off with a 121-105 win in Atlanta back in April. Karl-Anthony Towns picked up the slack with Jalen Brunson hurt, posting a 30-point, 11-rebound double-double.
The Knicks’ Saturday injury report features good news and bad news: while the team will be missing Josh Hart after he left Thursday’s game early with an ankle injury, Miles McBride has been upgraded to questionable, the first change in status he has had since leaving Dec. 7’s game against Orlando early with an ankle injury of his own. Former Knicks franchise face Kristaps Porzingis will likewise miss the game as he remains out while he continues to deal with an illness.
What: New York Knicks (21-9) @ Atlanta Hawks (15-17)
Where: State Farm Arena, Atlanta, GA
When: Satuday, 8 p.m. ET, MSG/NBA TV
Who’s Favored: NYK -6.5
Keep An Eye On: Mohamed Diawara
The Knicks used the backcourt contributions of Clarkson and Kolek to win after Hart went down on Thursday, but there’s no doubt that their sterling interior work could endure a bit of a blow if he’s sidelined for too long.
With the the heart of Hart out, the Knicks may turn to Diawara in larger stretches tonight. It’s clear by this point that Diawara has surpassed Pacome Dadiet as New York’s premier homegrown project and his size and strength could be quite noticeable considering how far Atlanta’s interior game has fallen without the Houston-bound Clint Capela and Porzingis’ lengthy departure.
Hawk to Watch: Dyson Daniels
As things go further awry in the Quin Snyder era, it’s getting to be crunch time for the Hawks’ headliners. It’s silly enough as is that the “Young owns the Knicks” narrative continues to persist but New York can at least start to deliver what could be one of the final blows.
The Hawks’ recent defensive lapses (perhaps perfectly personified in a 152-150 regulation defeat to the Chicago Bulls last weekend) has to put a little pressure on Daniels, the expert thief and shutdown man fresh off several honors in the department last season. Daniels dealt with some recent medical woes himself, missing a Tuesday game against Philadelphia with a hip ailment, but he has a big chance to come up big on Saturday.
They Said It
“After the Minnesota game, we had great conversations within the group. One of the things Josh [Hart] said was, ‘Hey, young guys, guys coming off the bench, if we as starters don’t have it going, you guys got to try to uplift us, too. You guys got to hold us accountable, to, and when you get your opportunity, be aggressive.’ Our bench was fantastic. Our bench basically won the game for us. They put us in position down the stretch so a guy like Jalen, who, again, is an MVP or one of the front-runners for MVP in this league, so a guy like him can go and show everybody why he is that.”—Knicks head coach Mike Brown on how the second unit set the tone for Thursday’s win (h/t Jared Schwartz, New York Post)
“Defensively, we haven’t defended on a level that we need to put ourselves in a position to win Actually, we have been in a position where we might have won if we had defended at a higher level. That encompasses a lot of things. It’s not one thing. There’s some consistent things. We just need to be better across the board. If we were doing that, and we had lost a few in a row, I think that would feel different. It would probably be something else we need to do better.”—Hawks head coach Quin Snyder on the state of the Atlanta defense (h/t Malik Brown, ClutchPoints)
Prediction
The Knicks are closing the year out as de facto rodeo bulls, facing off against teams that would love to make some sort of statement to tip-off their new year’s resolution early: Cleveland hoped to get its season back on track on Christmas, Atlanta would love to end this losing streak against an old enemy, the Spurs would love to make yet another tasty statement … and the Pelicans just want anything to go right, at this point.
The way that the Knicks have succeeded with nearly every challenge presented to them is a stark contrast to Atlanta’s ongoing struggles. It feels foolish to bet against the Knicks in this current state, especially with the sorry proceedings of the Hawks’ recent defensive outputs. If the Knicks, who are eager for some sort of momentum away from MSG, do falter on this road trip, don’t expect it to come against the reeling Hawks, even if some of the defensive intensity may be sitting with Hart on the bench.
