Kristian Winfield: Knicks fend off Hawks for 128-125 victory

Kristian Winfield, New York Daily News on Dec 27, 2025

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Karl-Anthony Towns is beginning to heat up, all but one of the Knicks’ young prospects are making strides in the first year of head coach Mike Brown’s tenure, and Captain Clutch saved the day once again.

The three storylines were on display in the Knicks’ 128-125 victory over the Atlanta Hawks on Saturday, a game they played without Josh Hart, who missed the outing with a sprained right ankle sustained in New York’s Christmas Day victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Hart missed his third game of the season after battling back spasms to open the season. He did not accompany the team on New York’s three-game road trip, which will also feature pit stops in New Orleans and San Antonio, and will be re-evaluated when the Knicks return home, according to a league source.

Without Hart, Towns dominated the glass against the seven-footer-less Hawks, finishing with a game-high 36 points on 8-of-15 shooting from the field to go with 16 rebounds and one flashy, over-the-head dime to a cutting Mikal Bridges. It is the second time in his last three games that Towns has scored at least 36 points. The All-Star big man posted 40 points on 14-of-24 shooting from the field and 3-of-6 shooting from downtown in the Knicks’ Dec. 23 loss in Minnesota, a game in which the the Knicks sat Jalen Brunson and OG Anunoby.

While Towns started hot on Saturday, Brunson closed the show, scoring six straight points in crunch time to keep the Hawks at bay. Brunson finished with 34 points on 15-of-29 shooting from the field.

The Knicks led the Hawks 114-104 at the 7:24 mark of the fourth quarter before ceding a 7-0 run that made it a one-possession game in crunch time. But Anunoby made the play of the game with less than 20 seconds on the clock, stealing an inbounds pass from Hawks forward Jalen Johnson, then turning down an open dunk to burn more time off the clock before Atlanta intentionally fouled, and he made both free throws to make it a three-point game.

Brown started rookie Mohamed Diawara in place of Hart, and the first-year wing logged five points, five rebounds, two assists and two blocks in his 16 minutes on the floor. The bigger moments from the end of the bench came from a second-round pick who maximized a rare opportunity on a team loaded on the wings.

Kevin McCullar Jr. logged six total minutes this season — five against the Timberwolves on Tuesday and one in garbage time of the NBA Cup quarterfinal victory over the Toronto Raptors — before Brown threw him to the wolves in Atlanta on Saturday.

McCullar played 23 minutes against the Hawks and finished with 13 points, eight rebounds, two assists and two steals, making four of his seven attempts from the field and shooting 3 of 6 from behind the arc.

“Just staying ready until my number’s called, and happy we got the W,” McCullar said in his walk-off interview after the game. “That’s my big bro on the team for sure. His energy is contagious. I learned a lot from him last year. And I went out there trying to make plays, winning plays.”

The Knicks acquired McCullar at pick No. 56 in the 2024 NBA draft in the draft night deal that sent pick No. 40, Oso Ighodaro, to the Phoenix Suns. He played 30 total minutes as a rookie after recovering from bone bruises in his left knee that limited the end of his collegiate career at Kansas.

McCullar said the young players on the Knicks’ roster are responding to Hart’s message that those players at the end of the rotation need to be ready in case of injury.

“We’ve got great veterans in the locker room,” he said. “They always stay on us to be ready when our number’s called, and take advantage of it. Tonight I did.”

And suddenly, the Knicks may be sitting on another option on the wing: They are starting Hart, Anunoby and Bridges but are thin behind them with Landry Shamet and Miles McBride injured and undersized at the three.

Shamet is back to full on-court basketball activities and is progressing his way towards taking contact in practice. The Knicks are eagerly waiting on his return, but it’s clear they’ve got young players who’ll step up until his return.