NEW YORK — The Atlanta Hawks will face Jalen Brunson and the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden this weekend in the first round of the 2026 NBA playoffs. Atlanta guard Dyson Daniels, who has guarded Brunson more than any other player over the past two seasons, will be central to the matchup.

The Hawks enter the series as the sixth seed in the Eastern Conference after closing the 2025-2026 regular season with a 28-15 record. Atlanta traded All-Star guard Trae Young in January 2026, and the team has since been led by forward Jalen Johnson and offseason acquisition Nickeil Alexander-Walker.

"There was a point in the season where we were struggling a little bit, we were losing games, but we always believed in each other, we trusted the coaches. We played the same way the whole year, just once we started to gel and the chemistry started to come together, it really started clicking, and guys figured out their roles more and were able to flip the script and get wins going," Daniels said.

Daniels, who was born in Bendigo, Australia, and is nicknamed the Great Barrier Thief, received the NBA Most Improved Player award last season. He recorded his second career triple-double in a win against the Cleveland Cavaliers one week ago.

This season, Daniels ranks second in the NBA in steals per game with an average of two, down from three last season. His three-point shooting percentage is 19%, down from 34% last season, while his two-point field goal percentage is 58%. According to advanced stats site Cleaning the Glass, Daniels and CJ McCollum are the Hawks' most important players based on scoring impact when they are on the court compared to off.

Daniels often defends the opposition's primary ball-handler, though the addition of Alexander-Walker has reduced that workload. Jock Landale will miss the first-round series with an ankle injury.

"He's a great defender. He's very smart and he's able to use his wingspan and create havoc on and off the ball. He does a lot of great things for their team and puts them in position to be successful," Brunson said of Daniels.

"It's going to be fun, it's going be a lot, the Garden's going to be popping. But these kinds of opportunities you live for and you dream for, and the only way to prepare for it, really, is to just trust your work, trust yourself," Daniels said ahead of the series.