Jalen Johnson makes his case for Most Improved Player Award: Leads Atlanta Hawks past New York Knicks

The 2 star point guards for both teams were out in this game due to injury (Trae Young and Jalen Brunson), so that meant that other players needed to step up. In this game, the Atlanta Hawks defeated the New York Knicks 116-100 at Madison Square Garden behind a dominant performance by an unlikely hero, Jalen Johnson.

Most Improved Player Award: The 3rd year forward is having a career year, averaging 15.6 points, 8.7 rebounds, and 3.3 assists on 51.6/33.8/72.7 shooting splits. Johnson has increased his scoring by 10 points which in turn has led to more playing time, as he went from 14.9 minutes last season to 34.2 minutes this year. This massive improvement was unexpected in the NBA community but it is a beautiful sight to see for the Hawks organization as now, JJ can be viewed as a franchise cornerstone moving forward.

In this game, the former Duke Blue Devil recorded 26 points, 9 rebounds, and 7 assists on 12/17 shooting. Dejounte Murray finished with 21 points, 9 rebounds, and 6 assists while De'Andre Hunter scored 22 points off the bench. Saddiq Bey ended with 17 points and 9 rebounds while Clint Capela had 13 points and 9 boards.

For the Knicks, Donte DiVincenzo scored a team high 21 points while hitting 5 shots from beyond the arc. Bojan Bogdanovic finished with 19 points off the bench while Precious Achiuwa ended with 15 points. Josh Hart recorded 14 points while Miles McBride and Alec Burks each scored 11 points.

The Hawks improve to 27-34 with this win and sit comfortably at the 10 seed. They are 2 games behind the Bulls for the 9th seed and 2.5 games above the Nets for the last play-in spot. Atlanta is playing without superstar Trae Young for a few more weeks at minimum, but they are staying afloat, going 5-5 over their last 10 games. They will face off against the Cleveland Cavaliers tomorrow.

Meanwhile, the Knicks drop to 36-26 with this loss, falling to the 5th seed. New York has the same record as the Magic but due to the tiebreaker, Orlando gets the 4 seed at the moment. This loss is massive as the team from The Mecca would like to host a round 1 playoff series. They are struggling without their star players, as over the last 10 games this team is 3-7. Next up on their schedule is a huge matchup against the Magic at home.