NY Knicks vs Atlanta Hawks Prediction 4/20/26 NBA Picks Today

The Atlanta Hawks were one of the hottest teams in the league at the end of the regular season, but they came back down to Earth with a 113-102 defeat to the Knicks in Game 1 last night. CJ McCollum led the team in scoring with 26 points on 11 of 20 shooting, Jalen Johnson added 23 points, Onyeka Okongwu scored 19 points while Nickeil Alexander-Walker scored 17 points. As a team, the Hawks shot 44 percent from the field and 14 of 37 from the 3-point line as they poured in 31 points in the second quarter to keep pace with the Knicks early on, but they scored just 19 points in the third quarter and fell behind by as many as 19 points at one stage. Dyson Daniels tallied nine rebounds, 11 assists and three steals but scored just four points while no bench player scored more than Jonathan Kuminga’s eight points.

Meanwhile, the New York Knicks finished the regular season with plenty of momentum and they seemed to have brought that into the postseason after outlasting the Hawks in an impressive home win in Game 1. Jalen Brunson led the team with 28 points and seven assists, Karl-Anthony Towns added 25 points with eight rebounds and four assists while OG Anunoby chipped in with 18 points on six of nine shooting. As a team, the Knicks shot 48 percent from the field and 12 of 25 from the 3-point line but this win was more about their defense as they couldn’t gain any separation until the third quarter where they restricted the Hawks to just 19 points to start to pull away. The Knicks didn’t get much support from their bench players but all five starters finished in double figures in scoring.

The Hawks will again be without the injured Jock Landale while the Knicks expect to have a full squad once again. The Knicks were good enough to hang onto home-court advantage thanks to some solid defense in the second half of Game 1, but the game was still up for grabs heading into the fourth quarter so the Hawks will feel like they are right in this contest. I wouldn’t be shocked at all if the Knicks were able to win by a bigger margin in this contest if they get off to another quick start, but the Hawks showed me enough to think that they can at least take this one down to the wire. I still expect the Knicks to get the win, but something tells me this one is going to be close.