Even with the Knicks’ fourth quarter collapse, they had an opportunity to hang on for the Game 2 victory at the buzzer.

Atlanta’s CJ McCollum played the villain role perfectly all night long, racking up a game-high 32 points on 12-of-22 shooting from the field after hearing it from the MSG crowd.

The veteran missed a pair of massive free throws in a one-point game, though, keeping the door open for New York with 5.6 seconds remaining in regulation.

Josh Hart pulled in the defensive rebound off the second miss, and with New York not having anymore timeouts they had to rush the ball down the floor.

Hart took a few dribbles before finding Mikal Bridges just beyond half-court.

Bridges made his way inside the arc before cutting towards the corner and putting up a contested fadeaway jumper that missed off the front rim as the buzzer sounded.

Instead of the Knicks capturing all of the momentum with a 2-0 advantage, the series now flips back to Atlanta with things evened at one apiece.

While Brides ultimately couldn’t play late hero too bail the team out, both him and Mike Brown were fine with the shot he took as the horn went off.

“I thought it was a good shot,” the head coach said. “Mikal got up the floor and got to the spot. He was a little off balance, but I don’t think he was under a ton of duress -- it’s a shot he’s hit for us in the past.”

“I just missed it,” Bridges added. “Nothing wrong with it, just gotta make it next time.”