For the first time since 1989, the Hawks will play a Christmas Day game. They are set to face the Knicks at Madison Square Garden.
It’s a sign of the franchise’s star continuing to rise, with Trae Young paving the way through last season’s impressive playoff run, when the Hawks went from 20-47 the previous season to winning two games in the Eastern Conference finals.
The game in New York will be played at noon on ESPN, and it will be a rematch of sorts, as the Hawks soundly beat the Knicks in five games in the first round of the playoffs last season. Young dominated in that series, from his last-second game-winning floater in Game 1 to taking a bow at center court in Game 5, having put up 36 points to help the Hawks close it out. The Knicks had home-court advantage, clinching a tiebreaker vs. the Hawks for the No. 4 seed, with the Hawks losing to the No. 5 seed (New York swept an injury-plagued Hawks team in the regular season).
Young and the Hawks also will get a national TV game the first week of the season, at home against Luka Doncic and the Mavericks at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 21 on TNT.
Outside of their playoff run last season, the Hawks don’t usually get many national TV games, so it’s notable for the franchise already to have two games on that bigger stage. The Hawks earned more of a spotlight with its success under Nate McMillan, who took over March 1 as interim coach, but will return as full-on head coach this season — now, the Hawks are looking to build on what they did last season, continue to develop their young talent and potentially earn homecourt advantage in the playoffs this time around.
Training camp will begin Sept. 28, and the NBA regular season will begin Oct. 19 and conclude April 10, with the All-Star game Feb. 20 in Cleveland. The play-in tournament will run from April 12-15, and the playoffs will begin April 16.
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