Atlanta Hawks: The 5 biggest home games before Christmas

Atlanta Hawks must-see home game No. 3: Sat, Nov 27 vs. New York Knicks

We’ve hyped up the Hawks return trip to Madison Square Garden on Christmas day already. But that will be their second time facing their first-round opponent from last year’s playoffs. It’s also the team that finished with homecourt advantage — a goal of the Hawks this coming season — over them thanks to tie-breakers.

The five-game series saw the birth of Young as a villain who relished in the opposing fanbase reacting to him while 2021’s Most Improved Player, Julius Randle, struggled.

Young averaged 29.2 points and 9.8 assists in that series and gave us “the shush”.

The Knicks swept the Hawks during the regular season, outscoring them 124-115 on average. One of the losses came with a fully healthy roster for Atlanta as well, likely leading to some shock among Knicks fans when the playoffs played out the way they did.

They had one of the more active offseasons. They signed Kemba Walker and Evan Fournier to go with draft picks Quentin Grimes and Jericho Sims, both of whom impressed in Summer League.

Mitchell Robinson should also be back after he missed the playoff series.

It’s going to be a much-different Knicks team this time. But the Hawks, while not nearly as active in free agency, still should be much improved with internal development, health, and their savvy additions.

For all of the fanfare surrounding the Christmas day bout, this game will surely set the tone for that one.