CJ McCollum Puts Nyk Ahead With 32 in Game 2
nyk belonged to CJ McCollum at Madison Square Garden on April 28, 2026. He scored 32 points in Game 2, hit the shot that put the Atlanta Hawks ahead for good, and helped them even the playoff series before heading home.
McCollum owns Game 2
The Hawks guard finished with a team-high 32 points in the victory and has 58 points across the first two playoff games. That is the full weight of the series so far: when Atlanta needed a shot to turn the game, McCollum delivered it, and the Hawks walked out of New York with the split they needed.
He did it in the building that had been the toughest stage in this series, and he did it while handling the kind of late possession that usually decides playoff games. The result was not just a road win. It was a road win that tied the series and shifted the Hawks back home with momentum built around one guard.
Saleh on the trade
Atlanta acquired McCollum from Washington on January 9 in a trade that also brought in Corey Kispert and sent Trae Young the other way. At the time, McCollum was 34 years old, carried a $31 million salary, and the Hawks were sitting in ninth place in the Eastern Conference, which made the move look more like a roster reshuffle than a postseason swing piece.
Onsi Saleh said he was not expecting McCollum to take over the series the way he has in the last two games. “I'd be bullshitting if I was like, ‘Hey, this is gonna happen,’” Saleh said. He added that McCollum has been “phenomenal” at understanding tempo, pace, mismatches, clock situations, and who to attack.
Atlanta’s late-game edge
Saleh also said, “I was not expecting him to take over and be the type of player he's been the last two games. It's just been like, Damn! Like, this is pretty amazing.” That line fits the series turn Atlanta got from a veteran guard who has controlled the game when possessions got tight.
He called McCollum’s efficiency a pressure reliever for the rest of the roster and said the guard has helped the Hawks understand how to win playoff games. That matters for a team built around Jalen Johnson, Dyson Daniels, and Nickeil Alexander-Walker, because McCollum has given them a cleaner way to close the last two games and a scoring option that did not look central when the trade happened.
The Hawks now head home with the series tied and the trade for McCollum looking far more consequential than it did in January. For Atlanta, the next phase of the series starts with a player who has already supplied 58 points, the go-ahead basket, and a much sharper late-game answer than the market expected.
