New York looked as if they were ready to take a commanding 2-0 series advantage carrying a double-digit lead into the closing minutes of the fourth quarter of Game 2.

However, that resulted in a devastating loss on their homecourt, and then the Hawks brought that momentum back home with them for Thursday’s Game 3.

Atlanta opened an early lead and used the energy from their fans to hang on and pull out the crucial 109-108 victory in what was a back-and-forth affair.

While the road team showed some fight with a fourth quarter surge, it wasn’t enough.

“I liked the resiliency our guys showed,” Mike Brown said. “We didn’t play our best basketball, that’s not taking anything away from the Hawks -- the game was physical, but we found a way to match it and gave ourselves a chance.”

“Missed opportunity, for sure,” Jalen Brunson added.

New York will now need to show that resiliency once more as they find themselves in a 2-1 hole heading into a virtual must-win Game 4 on Saturday.

Though this loss was a big blow, they know they’ll be ready to go.

“It hurts,” Karl-Anthony Towns said. “It hurts when you give yourself a chance to win -- last game, this game, it hurts that we put ourselves in a position to win and we just didn’t close -- it’s tough, but we have to keep our heads up."

"There’s no room to feel sorry for ourselves," Josh Hart added. "We have another one on Saturday at 6 o’clock. It’s a quick turnaround, we have to make sure we regroup and go out focused on Game 4."