The Atlanta Hawks and New York Knicks will square off in Game 2 in the first round of the NBA Playoffs tonight. Tipoff is set for 8:00 p.m. ET from Madison Square Garden in New York City. The game will broadcast live on NBC and Peacock.
The Knicks are 5.5-point favorites over the Hawks on the spread (Knicks -5.5), with the over/under set at 216.5 total points. New York is a -230 favorite to win outright on the moneyline, while Atlanta is +190 to pull off the upset.
Let's get into my Hawks vs. Knicks predictions and NBA picks for Monday, April 20.
Hawks vs Knicks Prediction
- Hawks vs Knicks pick: Josh Hart 10+ Rebounds (+300)
My Knicks vs. Hawks Game 2 best bet is on Josh Hart to record 10 or more rebounds. Make sure to find the best odds by checking our live NBA odds page.
Hawks vs Knicks Odds
| Hawks Odds | ||
|---|---|---|
| Spread | Total | Moneyline |
+5.5 -105 | 216.5 -115o / -105u | +190 |
| Knicks Odds | ||
|---|---|---|
| Spread | Total | Moneyline |
-5.5 -115 | 216.5 -115o / -105u | -230 |
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Hawks vs Knicks NBA Playoffs Game 2 Preview
We are officially back in the playoff lab, where logic goes to die and Josh Hart plays essentially the entire game for the Knicks. So, for my Game 2 best bet, I’m ignoring the standard lines and going straight to the alt-market: Josh Hart to record 10+ Rebounds at +300 via BetMGM.
I’ll be honest, the Game 1 rotation caught me off guard. I was surprised to see Mitchell Robinson only play 15 minutes. In a series against a physical Hawks' frontcourt, you’d expect Mitch to be anchored in the paint. But as is often the case for New York, when one door closes, the "Josh Hart 40-minute experience" door swings wide open.
The correlation there is direct: Robinson’s limited run led to Hart logging a massive 37 minutes — and what did he do with that time? He went out and snatched 14 rebounds.
It’s like we never left the playoffs. If you’ve watched this team over the last few years, this is exactly what Hart does the moment the lights get brighter. He is a postseason glass-eater in every sense of the word.
The most telling stat from Game 1 wasn't just the 14 boards—it was the 19 rebound chances. To put that in perspective, that number trailed only Nikola Jokić across the entire Saturday slate of playoff games.
Now, I don’t care what stat we’re talking about—assists, rebounds, points, efficiency—if you are trailing only Jokić, you are doing something elite. Hart was everywhere on the glass, tracking down long misses and out-working the Hawks' bigs.
I know the regular-season data might give some bettors pause. Hart "only" had 18 double-digit rebounding games this season, which was a significant drop from the 39 he put up last year.
But, this is where we have to be smart and realize that the 82-game regular season and the NBA Playoffs are two entirely different sports. We are throwing out the regular-season averages and leaning into "Playoff Josh Hart."
Look at the history here. Last year in the postseason, Hart averaged 36 minutes a game. In those 18 games, he grabbed double-digit rebounds in nine of them—exactly 50% of the time. He had at least six boards in every single one of those games.
The floor is incredibly high, but the ceiling is where the money is.
Hawks vs Knicks Pick, Betting Analysis
The market is currently pricing his rebound total at 7.5. I am skipping that entirely. Why take a standard over at juice when you can get 3-to-1 odds on him hitting a number he just cleared by four in Game 1?
This feels like an overreaction to his regular-season "dip" rather than an acknowledgment of his playoff reality.
I’m also being very specific with how I’m playing this. I’m not touching the double-double. I don’t know if Hart is going to score points; his shot can be wonky, and the Knicks have plenty of other mouths to feed.
I don’t need him to put the ball in the basket. I just want him to do the one thing we know he’s going to do as long as he’s on the floor: hunt rebounds.
If I’m wrong here, I might be wrong by a lot. Maybe Robinson plays 30 minutes and Hart’s volume drops. But if I’m right—and the Game 1 trend of Hart playing 37+ minutes holds—this +300 price tag is going to look like a bargain.
Pick: Josh Hart 10+ Rebounds (+300)
