The player who almost spoiled one of the great NBA playoff hot streaks of all time is in awe of the Knicks’ run to 13 straight victories.
Hawks star CJ McCollum, who was well on his way to being the next memorable Knicks’ playoff villain after three games of the first-round series, shared a message along with the highlight of his jump shot to lift the Hawks to a 109-108 victory on April 23.
“Sick,” McCollum wrote on X early Saturday. “Knicks have been a different team since this moment.”
McCollum taunted the Madison Square Garden crowd with big shots and gestures as the Hawks stole Game 2 of their series against the Knicks. Then he hit the game-winner in Game 3 in Atlanta to give the Hawks a 2-1 series edge.
The Knicks haven’t lost since, winning three straight to close out the Hawks, sweeping the 76ers and Cavaliers, and taking a 2-0 lead in the NBA Finals with back-to-back wins in San Antonio.
McCollum faded in the final three games of the Knicks-Hawks series. Josh Hart, his former Trail Blazers teammate, took the main assignment of defending McCollum, whose averages dipped to 11.3 points on 39.5 percent shooting from the floor over three straight losses.
McCollum had been bargaining to join the likes of Michael Jordan, Reggie Miller, P.J. Brown and Trae Young as Knicks’ playoff tormentors.
The Knicks’ last possession of their most recent loss ended with a turnover by Jalen Brunson. In the Finals, Brunson has shaken off two poor shooting games to become the first player since at least 1971 to score the final go-ahead points in the last two minutes of back-to-back games, per ESPN.
De’Aaron Fox tried to get in Brunson’s head late in Game 2 with a face-to-face staredown after committing a foul along the sideline, but Brunson didn’t take the bait. His father, Knicks assistant coach Rick Brunson, wasn’t having it.
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