NBA Basketball

2026-04-25 - New York Knicks at Atlanta Hawks

A Sports Betting Pick by FirstDown

New York Knicks @ Atlanta Hawks
United States : NBA Basketball Playoffs First Round Game 4
Saturday 25th April 2026 - Scheduled 6pm EST
11pm (British Time)

Preview

Back to back single point defeats have put the New York Knicks in a bit of a bind and there is going to have to be some desperation in their play when they begin Game 4 of this First Round Series. Some will say there was not enough of that in the first half, but the Knicks rallied in the Fourth Quarter only to come up short at the very end of Game 3 as they did in Game 2.

Blowing that big Game 2 lead feels like it could be a pivotal moment in this Series, but the Knicks have to remember that they were the higher Seeded team and a win to reclaim home court advantage will swing things back in their favour.

However, winning is going to be the challenge against an Atlanta Hawks team growing in this Series and feeling like the stronger of the two involved.

It is quite a statement seeing as the Hawks have only just clung on for back to back wins and could be 3-0 down in this Series with a couple of plays here and there, but they are a young group who will be gaining more and more confidence and who will believe they match up pretty well with New York on both sides of the ball.

Forcing the Knicks to have to settle for three pointers has been a momentum shifter- the Knicks only took 25 of those shots in Game 1 and made just shy of half of the efforts, but they have taken 69 three pointers across the last two games and struggled with just 21 being made. That has to be improved if the Knicks are going to find a way to turn things around and that means getting more out of the likes of Josh Hart and Mikal Bridges on the Offensive side of the court.

In reality it feels like Head Coach Mike Brown is no longer trusting a cold shooting Bridges and that may offer a route into more minutes for Miles McBride who had a 5-10 effort from three point range in the Game 3 loss and gave the Knicks some spark from the bench. More minutes for the likes of Karl-Anthony Towns and Jalen Brunson are also going to be important with the Knicks needing all of the Offensive creativity that has been missed without them on the court.

All of the adjustments do have to be made by the New York Knicks and the Atlanta Hawks are likely going to be pretty pleased with the direction the last two games have taken.

It was an efficient shooting day in Game 3 and the Hawks are getting strong contributions from the bench through Jonathan Kuminga's experience. They will want to come out and weather any New York storm that a desperate team may bring, but the Atlanta Hawks like the way they match up Offensively with the Knicks.

Picking a winner is not easy- the expectation is that the Knicks will rally, but they are not easy to trust after poor execution at the end of the Fourth Quarter in each of last two games.

Instead it may pay to back the teams to come out and expose potentially tired players on the Defensive side of the court with the one day rest between games. The total line is at an awkward spot, but the Knicks and Hawks have shown they can get into the late 100s on the scoreboard and that should give them an opportunity to get past this number set.