Knicks administer generational beatdown of Hawks to advance to Eastern Conference semis

After the first three games of this series, when Atlanta won two games by a grand total of two points, the Knicks adjusted … and proceeded to blow the doors off the Hawks by a combined 45 points in Games 4 and 5. That left Game 6, in Atlanta’s State Farm Arena, as the Hawks’ final chance to salvage the season and their dignity. They did neither, and now go pinwheeling into their offseason with a loss so ugly it threatens to overshadow a resurgent season and a promising future.

New York rolled into town believing it had unlocked the full potential of its Jalen Brunson/Karl-Anthony Towns-led lineup. On the other hand, ominous signs for Atlanta loomed everywhere; the “True to ATL” rally towels on every seat were a depressing black, and the get-in price for a win-or-go-home playoff game at tipoff was just $24.

And then the game began … and the destruction quickly followed.

A statistical analysis of this game is about as useful as a calorie count at Thanksgiving. The entire story can be told with one stat: 65-10. That’s the run that the Knicks went on after Atlanta went up 9-5 — which, as you can probably guess, was the last time this season the Hawks led a game.

New York was, quite simply, relentless. The Hawks already didn’t have an answer for the range of Brunson or the size and playmaking of KAT. So when OG Annunoby caught fire, scoring 26 points in the first half alone, well … this wasn’t anything close to a fair fight. In the first half, Atlanta turned the ball over 14 times and four Knicks scored in double figures; these two facts are not unrelated.

The only time the Hawks showed any real fight came with just over four minutes left in the first half, when Atlanta’s Dyson Daniels and New York’s Mitchell Robinson tangled at the foul line, setting off a scrum that spilled all the way into the first row of fans:

Of course, the Hawks were down by 50 at this point — again, not a typo — so Robinson could have saved himself an ejection and just pointed at the scoreboard.

Many Hawks fans didn’t even bother coming back to their seats after halftime. Many more began streaming toward the exits during the third quarter, leaving the already-numerous blue-and-orange Knicks fans to take over the stands as well as the court.

By the fourth quarter, this resembled nothing so much as a preseason exhibition, with both benches emptied. Individual conversations were audible in the arena — along with healthy waves of “Let’s go, Knicks!” chants.

Where, exactly, will the Knicks go? If they play like they did on Thursday … a long, long way.