Unfortunately, that's the case ahead of their showdown with the Oklahoma City Thunder on Monday. The Hawks announced on Sunday that Johnson has been ruled out for the game due to an undisclosed illness.

The Hawks haven’t always played badly in this stretch; they lost at the buzzer to a good Knicks team and were beaten by a phantom call in the second loss to the Bulls. The underlying stats still say they’re more an average team than a bad one – 16 th in offense, 17 th in defense, 18 th in Net Rating.

Karl-Anthony Towns scored a season-high 36 points with 16 rebounds, Jalen Brunson had 34 points and the New York Knicks survived Atlanta’s late comeback attempt to beat the slumping Hawks 128-125.

The Hawks did something after their loss to the Heat that may have helped their effort against the Knicks. ATLANTA, GA – It was the sixth straight loss, but this one felt different than the others.

It was just a few short weeks ago when the Atlanta Hawks surprised many people with their success despite the absence of Trae Young. Atlanta got off to a 9-5 start.

The Miami Heat handed the Atlanta Hawks their fifth straight loss with a 126-111 win. Norman Powell scored 25 points, and Pelle Larsson added a career-high 21.

Kristaps Porzingis will miss another game for the Hawks, but it sounds like he could be making a return sooner rather than later.