In humbling Game 5 rout, no shortage of painful lessons for Hawks

NEW YORK — The Hawks are getting taken to school.

For the second game in a row, the Knicks pushed the Hawks around, played better and ran them off the floor.

The sixth-seeded Hawks gave reason to believe an upset of the third-seeded Knicks was possible after taking a 2-1 lead in a thrilling Game 3 at State Farm Arena this past Thursday. But their 126-97 Game 5 loss Tuesday night at electric Madison Square Garden nudged them to the edge of the cliff, down 3-2 in the best-of-seven series.

Simply, the better team with vastly more playoff experience has taken control of the series. Since their Game 3 loss, the Knicks have upped their intensity, physicality and execution, and the young Hawks have not been able to match.

“I think we’re playing a very physical team and it’s just a constant that we have to be that committed and focused and that competitive to move the needle on that,” Hawks coach Quin Snyder said.

The Knicks drove at the basket and weren’t made to pay. The Hawks settled for fadeaway jump shots.

The Knicks banged for rebounds, won 50/50 balls and knocked down their three-pointers.

They raced in transition to score 13 fast-break points. The Hawks, who rely on the fast break to score easy baskets, managed just four, 14.1 below their regular-season average.

Having been given a playoff tutorial from the savvy Knicks in a one-sided Game 4 loss at State Farm Arena on Saturday, the Hawks took the floor in New York as if the lessons had yet to fully absorb.

The offense didn’t function. There wasn’t enough passing and moving without the ball. The team that led the NBA in assists in the regular season didn’t consistently create open shots for one another. (It didn’t help that the Hawks appeared to get the short end of the officiating stick.)

“For us, what’s helped us when we were in the regular season — and it’s not the regular season — but the small things that have gotten us to where we are now, I think we’ve kind of shied away from,” guard Nickeil Alexander-Walker said. “And it’s about finding it.”

After a muted Game 4, All-Star forward Jalen Johnson put up numbers more typical of his breakthrough season — 18 points on 7-for-15 shooting, along with 10 rebounds and six assists. But he had moments that indicated there are still more lessons to learn as he tries to become a more forceful player in this series.

In the second quarter, he was leading a fast break with the Knicks’ Jose Alvarado and Karl-Anthony Towns on either side of him and no one in front of him. Rather than attack the basket, he flipped a one-handed pass to Alexander-Walker in the corner that was deflected out of bounds by New York’s Mikal Bridges, allowing the Knicks to reset on defense.

It was hardly the reason why the Hawks lost — Gabe Vincent actually hit a three-pointer later in the possession — but it embodied their challenges in summoning the same fight that was spilling out of the Knicks.

“I feel like we did a better job (of being more physical),” Johnson said. “I feel like it was more self-inflicted, just more stuff we could have done better offensively. They just capitalized off our mistakes on offense.”

It’s not where the series appeared headed after the Hawks’ Game 3 win, but no one should be surprised.

“They’ve been here — they’re a team that’s gone through the wringer and all that good stuff — and they’re applying pressure,” Alexander-Walker said. “They’re making game-plan reads, they’re making adjustments. So it’s just about adapting. I think we’ve just got to settle in and adapt well.”