The Hawks were underdogs against the New York Knicks last night and were coming off their worst loss of the season, a blowout loss to Boston that was never truly competitive. However, it wasn’t Trae Young or Jalen Johnson who led them to victory. He was the number one pick in the 2024 NBA Draft by Zaccharie Risacher. Risacher has had an interesting start to his career, doing a lot of little things that don’t show up on the scoreboard, but struggling to shoot the ball. Last night that changed and put him in elite company.

Risacher finished last night’s game against the Knicks with 33 points on 11-18 shooting and 6-10 three-point shooting, in addition to capturing seven rebounds, three steals and not turning the ball over. It was the best performance by a rookie in the NBA this season and it came against one of the NBA’s top teams. According to Hawks PR, he became the fourth-youngest NBA player since 1977-78 to finish a game with 30+ points and 0 turnovers. Who were the others? Just two of the greatest players of all time and one of the best young players in the game.

LeBron James (19 years/36 days)
Kobe Bryant (19 years/116 days)
LaMelo Ball (19 years/167 days)

While there will surely be ups and downs with Risacher this season, last night’s game was a great sign for his development. He shot the ball well, but also played very well on defense, as evidenced by his three steals. He had some tough assignments last night on defense against the Knicks, but he found a way to impact the game.

After his big game, fandel He has him as co-leader of the NBA Rookie of the Year award, along with Grizzlies center Zach Edey. Fanduel has both players at +350 odds and then there’s a slight drop to the Wizards’ pair of rookies, Bub Carrington and Alex Sarr, at +650. After that, there’s a big gap with Lakers rookie Dalton Knecht at +2000. It’s still very, very early, but Risacher had the best performance of any rookie this season and it will be difficult even for him to top it.

Risacher wasn’t the only player who played well last night. After a slow start, Trae Young finished with 23 points and 10 assists. Jalen Johnson flirted with a triple-double, scoring 23 points, grabbing 15 rebounds and dishing out seven assists. It was the trio that carried the Hawks across the finish line and earned them their biggest win of the year.

However, they had to withstand a barrage of three-pointers from the Knicks to do so. After a difficult first quarter, New York had an avalanche of three-pointers that almost won them the game. The Knicks went 22-47 in three (47&%) and still lost. Karl-Anthony Towns had a big night with 34 points and 16 rebounds, but they didn’t get enough from their star point guard Jalen Brunson, who had 21 points and four assists. It wasn’t a bad game from Brunson, but Dyson Daniels was making life difficult for him throughout the game. Outside of Deuce McBride, the Knicks bench had nothing tonight.

Overall, this was an excellent win for the Hawks in what was a playoff-like atmosphere in November. They hope to carry that momentum into the next few games and start racking up some wins.

Additional links:

Zaccharie Risacher rises to the top of the rookie of the year odds after the best night of his career against the Knicks

Hawks star Trae Young has a message for New York Knicks fans after the Hawks’ 121-116 win

RECAP: Zaccharie Risacher has career night as Hawks defeat Knicks 121-116