The New York Knicks (28–26) came away with a solid 102–90 win against the Atlanta Hawks (34–21) on Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden. They had dropped two games to the Hawks earlier this season.
The seemingly easy win over the Eastern Conference’s fourth place team comes at a great time as the Knicks will reassess their up-and-down season going into the All-Star break.
“We showed ourselves how good we can be. We came out and played great defense from the start. We got after it, we got into guys and applied pressure,” Amar’e Stoudemire told MSG after the game.
Stoudemire led the game in scoring with 23 points and had 3 blocked shots. He will be traveling to Los Angeles for the All-Star game this Sunday.
“To represent New York in the All-Star game, that’s a great achievement for me,” Stoudemire said.
Five Knicks players reached double-digit scoring, and Wilson Chandler had a terrific contribution from the bench scoring 20 points.
Raymond Felton had a double-double with 13 points and 11 assists—some of those better assists were to Chandler.
A fast-paced first quarter saw several driving layups and dunks by both teams in good transition basketball. The Knicks broke away in the end up 26–19, and would maintain a 10-point lead or better for almost the entirety of the game. The Hawks made a few surges, including one at the end of the first half.
“We need to get stops with an athletic team like this. You can’t let them run. So we just need to kind of get into them and be kind of physical with them,” Felton told MSG at the half that finished with the Knicks up 52–45.
The Knicks restored their double-digit lead for much of the third quarter and surged ahead by as much as 18 points in the fourth quarter.
Felton got his 10th assist of the night past the midpoint of the fourth quarter with a beautiful alley-oop pass to Chandler for a reverse dunk.
Then on the next play Felton found Chandler again for a nice driving layup.
New York’s aggressive defense and good rebounding kept the Hawks at bay down the stretch, and the Knicks capitalized on foul shots throughout the game. The Knicks went 17–21 in free throws compared to the Hawks shooting just 5–9 from the line.
The Hawks were led by Marvin Williams with 17 points and 8 assists, and Al Horford had a double-double with 12 points and 11 assists. Mike Bibby was impressive from downtown shooting 5–7 in 3-pointers, and the Hawks starting lineup all reached double-digit scoring.
The Knicks will look to even their four-game season series against the Hawks in March.
The seemingly easy win over the Eastern Conference’s fourth place team comes at a great time as the Knicks will reassess their up-and-down season going into the All-Star break.
“We showed ourselves how good we can be. We came out and played great defense from the start. We got after it, we got into guys and applied pressure,” Amar’e Stoudemire told MSG after the game.
Stoudemire led the game in scoring with 23 points and had 3 blocked shots. He will be traveling to Los Angeles for the All-Star game this Sunday.
“To represent New York in the All-Star game, that’s a great achievement for me,” Stoudemire said.
Five Knicks players reached double-digit scoring, and Wilson Chandler had a terrific contribution from the bench scoring 20 points.
Raymond Felton had a double-double with 13 points and 11 assists—some of those better assists were to Chandler.
A fast-paced first quarter saw several driving layups and dunks by both teams in good transition basketball. The Knicks broke away in the end up 26–19, and would maintain a 10-point lead or better for almost the entirety of the game. The Hawks made a few surges, including one at the end of the first half.
“We need to get stops with an athletic team like this. You can’t let them run. So we just need to kind of get into them and be kind of physical with them,” Felton told MSG at the half that finished with the Knicks up 52–45.
The Knicks restored their double-digit lead for much of the third quarter and surged ahead by as much as 18 points in the fourth quarter.
Felton got his 10th assist of the night past the midpoint of the fourth quarter with a beautiful alley-oop pass to Chandler for a reverse dunk.
Then on the next play Felton found Chandler again for a nice driving layup.
New York’s aggressive defense and good rebounding kept the Hawks at bay down the stretch, and the Knicks capitalized on foul shots throughout the game. The Knicks went 17–21 in free throws compared to the Hawks shooting just 5–9 from the line.
The Hawks were led by Marvin Williams with 17 points and 8 assists, and Al Horford had a double-double with 12 points and 11 assists. Mike Bibby was impressive from downtown shooting 5–7 in 3-pointers, and the Hawks starting lineup all reached double-digit scoring.
The Knicks will look to even their four-game season series against the Hawks in March.
