The Knicks had their foot on the Hawks’ neck. All they had to do was press down.
Instead, they choked away what would’ve been a commanding 2-0 series lead.
They blew a 12-point lead to start the fourth quarter and fell to the Hawks 107-106 in Game 2 on Monday night at Madison Square Garden.
Jalen Brunson drilled a 3-pointer to cut the Knicks deficit to one point with 7.1 seconds left. And CJ McCollum missed both free throws, giving the Knicks life. But Mikal Bridges’ jumper on the other end rimmed out, and the collapse was complete.
The Knicks went ice cold, shooting 5-for-22 from the field and 3-for-11 from 3-point range in the fourth quarter. They missed two free throws. They allowed the Hawks to shoot 10-for-15 from the field.
Charles Wenzelberg / New York Post
And it was the starters who were at fault for blowing it.
They had been the best fourth quarter team in the NBA in the regular season and in Game 1. They were 47-2 when leading after three quarters. Now, it’s 47-3
McCollum — who has become a new Knicks playoff villain — scored six straight Hawks points in that fourth-quarter run and finished with a game-high 32 points.
In truth, the Knicks had delivered a recipe for failure from the start. But it didn’t bite them until the last few minutes.
They shot just 32.4 percent from 3-point range and 63.0 percent from the free-throw line. They committed 14 turnovers.
The late meltdown mirrors Games 1 and 2 in the Easter Conference finals against the Pacers last year.
After taking a nine-point lead into the second quarter, the Hawks opened the second quarter on a 13-3 run to take the lead. Coach Mike Brown, as he usually does, had Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns on the bench to start the quarter, and the Knicks bench — particularly Landry Shamet — struggled. So much so that Brown subbed Jose Alvarado — who seemed to be out of the playoff rotation — into the game for Shamet.
Knicks starters re-established the seven-point lead by halftime following Bridges’ buzzer-beater. By the first timeout of the third quarter, the Knicks led by 13. By the fourth quarter, it was 12.
Then came disaster.
