ATLANTA — There were no late heroics by the Atlanta Hawks this time.
They never got that chance Saturday night.
Karl-Anthony Towns put together the first postseason triple-double of his NBA career, teammate OG Anunoby scored 22 points, and the sixth-seeded New York Knicks recovered after back-to-back losses to beat the third-seeded Hawks 114-98 at State Farm Arena, tying the best-of-seven series in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs at two wins apiece.
Towns had 20 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists. An 11-year veteran of the league who was an NBA All-Star this season for the sixth time, Towns became the franchise’s fourth player to record a triple-double in a playoff game, joining Walt Frazier, Josh Hart and Dick McGuire.
The Knicks host Game 5 at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night, and the series is now guaranteed to return to Atlanta for Game 6 on Thursday.
New York took control of the game midway through the first quarter and maintained the lead for the rest of the way. The visitors held a 68-44 advantage at halftime and extended that lead to 20 points by the end of the third quarter.
The Knicks, who had one-point losses in the previous two games, returned to form behind their core of Towns, Anunoby and Jalen Brunson, who scored 19 points.
“Obviously, we didn’t win Game 3, but I think the way we played in the second half as a team propelled us to play the way we did tonight,” Brunson said. “We’re trying to continue to push that forward.”
“Let’s go Knicks!” “Let’s go Knicks!” chants erupted through the Atlanta venue as New York led by as much as 24 points in the fourth quarter. Both teams had their reserves in with 3 1/2 minutes remaining.
“The way we’ve been able to (play on both sides of the ball) these past five quarters is how we’ve got to play,” Brunson said.
CJ McCollum, who hit the winning shot of Atlanta’s one-point triumph two days earlier on the same floor, again led the Hawks in scoring with 17 points. He also led the team during an 11-point road loss in the opener and in Atlanta’s Game 2 victory at MSG.
New York held McCollum scoreless beyond the arc after he made nine 3-pointers in the first three games.
“CJ’s a handful, so we’ve just got to keep trying to find ways to show him different looks,” Knicks coach Mike Brown said.
Nickeil Alexander-Walker added 15 points Saturday for the hosts, and Dyson Daniels had a team-high nine rebounds for Atlanta.