The Knicks’ losing streak was stretched to three games as they fell to the Atlanta Hawks, 112-99, on Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden.
Here are some key takeaways…
– Tom Thibodeau went with the same starting five of Jalen Brunson, RJ Barrett, Evan Fournier, Julius Randle, and Mitchell Robinson to start this one.
– Robinson got the Knicks started early on as he dropped in a pair of nice feeds from Barrett to help propel the Knicks to a 9-4 lead. He also was getting things done on the defensive end as he blocked a Trae Young floater, came up with a steal and grabbed a defensive board.
Brunson picked up a pair of early fouls and was forced to take a seat with seven minutes remaining in the first.
A Barrett steal and dish to Immanuel Quickley propelled the Knicks to a 24-19 lead and forced the Hawks to take a timeout. Barrett picked up four assists in the first quarter.
New York then scored 14 straight points and the Hawks missed 12 of their last 13 shots to give the Knicks a 32-21 lead after one.
Robinson enjoyed a strong first quarter as he picked up six points, a steal, a block, and three rebounds in seven minutes. Randle was the leading scorer in the quarter with ten points and Young shot just 2-for-12 from the field.
– The Knicks were pushing the tempo early in the second quarter with a beautiful full-court feed from Isaiah Hartenstein to Obi Toppin for the lay-in pushing the lead to 15. Toppin started out 4-for-4 from the field, including a pair of threes, as he contributed 10 points off the bench.
With the Hawks struggling offensively, New York was able to push the lead up to as much as 23 points. With a little over five minutes left in the quarter, Dejounte Murray and the Hawks finally started to heat up. Atlanta cut the lead all the way down to eight, as the Knicks led 65-57 at the half.
Murray was on fire towards the end of the second, dropping 18 points in the quarter, and finishing the half with 23 points. Despite his early struggles, Young finished the first half with 15 points of his own.
For the Knicks, Brunson led the way with 12 points and five assists. Barrett had ten points, Randle had 11, Robinson had eight points and seven rebounds, and Toppin contributed ten points off the bench.
– The Hawks started the third quarter the same way they finished the second, as they scored nine straight points to take a one-point lead. It took the Knicks 4:17 to finally score in the third quarter.
The struggles continued throughout the third quarter, as the Knicks completely collapsed. They had nearly as many turnovers (9) as they did points (10), and as a result, they found themselves trailing 89-75 heading into the final frame.
With Young in the locker room after being poked in the eye, Murray took over. At the end of three, he had 31 points, eight assists, five steals, and four rebounds.
– It was much of the same early in the fourth quarter from the Knicks, but a Quickley three from deep in the corner cut the Atlanta lead down to ten. Quickley had a double-double as he dropped 11 points and reeled in a new career-high 16 rebounds.
The Knicks made a nice push but the Hawks proved to be too much. Back-to-back threes from De’Andre Hunter and Murray with five minutes remaining pretty much put the game on ice, and the Knicks dropped their third game in a row, 112-99.
Murray recorded a career-high 36 points, nine assists, four rebounds, one block, and six steals.
Quentin Grimes checked into the game with around four minutes remaining making his regular-season debut.
The Knicks turned the ball over 17 times to the Hawks’ nine. As pointed out by ESPN’s Matt Williams, the 23-point lead for the Knicks is tied for the team’s third-largest blown lead in a loss over the last 30 seasons.
Highlights
What’s Next
The Knicks continue their stretch of tough games as they travel to Philadelphia to take on Joel Embiid and the 76ers on Friday night at 7:00 p.m.
