Hawks-Knicks Preview

By NOEY KUPCHAN
Posted Jan 26 2013 11:34PM

Atlanta Hawks coach Larry Drew had high praise for his team after a remarkable win its last time out.

He surely hasn't been pleased with the Hawks' recent efforts against the Atlantic Division-leading New York Knicks.

Seeking a fourth consecutive victory, visiting Atlanta tries to avoid a fifth loss in six games to New York as these clubs square off Sunday for the first time this season.

The Hawks (25-18) found themselves on the verge of defeat Friday before storming back from 27 down in a 123-111 double-overtime win over Boston. Kyle Korver came up clutch down the stretch, making five of his career-high eight 3-pointers in the fourth quarter.

Korver finished with a season-best 27 points while Al Horford scored 24 to go along with 13 rebounds. Josh Smith added 17 points, 14 boards and seven assists and Jeff Teague scored 23.

"This is probably, I'm trying to think as a coach and as a player, one of the most amazing comebacks I've been associated with," said Drew, whose team improved to 13-3 when Korver scores at least 13. "Overall, this was a very, very gutsy win for us, it really shows what we're made of. It shows that we have the ability to persevere through those type of situations."

Drew, who spent six seasons as an assistant to former Hawks and current Knicks coach Mike Woodson before replacing him in 2010-11, led Atlanta to a 100-90 win in his first game against Woodson on March 30. The Hawks, though, came up short 113-112 on April 22, dropping to 4-9 in the series since 2009.

New York (26-15) entered Saturday having won three of four but couldn't keep up in a 97-80 loss at Philadelphia. Carmelo Anthony had 25 points on 9-of-28 shooting and Amare Stoudemire scored a season-high 20 off the bench, but no one else reached double figures.

"We just didn't have it," Anthony said. "They played extremely well. We didn't make shots. We didn't defend. We didn't move the ball."

Raymond Felton, in his first game back after missing 12 due to a broken right finger, scored eight for the Knicks, who went a season-worst 4 for 27 (14.8 percent) from long distance. New York has gone 20-5 when making at least 11 3-pointers and 6-10 when it doesn't.

Despite his inefficient effort Saturday, Anthony extended his streak of consecutive 20-point efforts to 28 - tied with Patrick Ewing for the second-longest in team history and one behind Richie Guerin's record set in 1961-62.

Anthony, averaging 29.0 points to rank second in the league, has scored at least 20 in all but one game thus far. He's averaging 37.5 in his last two matchups against Atlanta.

While Smith and Horford continue to lead the way for the Hawks, Korver figures to keep getting his looks, too. Acquired from Chicago in exchange for cash this offseason, Korver is averaging 20.3 points over his last four games, a stretch during which he's gone 21 for 32 (65.6 percent) from beyond the arc.

Atlanta, which had been outscored by an average of 12.7 points during a season-worst six-game road losing streak before beating Charlotte on Wednesday, has gone 5-18 at Madison Square Garden since 2000.

Anthony's 9 3s, 42 points lead Knicks over Hawks

By BRIAN MAHONEY
Posted Jan 27 2013 10:54PM

NEW YORK (AP) Carmelo Anthony was so locked in, he didn't even realize how far he was shooting from.

Those 3-pointers put him in the record book. A drive to the basket put the Knicks back in the win column.

Anthony tied a franchise record with nine 3-pointers, then converted a go-ahead, three-point play with 12.5 seconds left to cap a 42-point night and lead New York to a 106-104 victory over the Atlanta Hawks on Sunday.

The Hawks shot a season-high 60 percent from the field but had their three-game winning streak snapped when Josh Smith, burned on Anthony's basket, missed a 3-pointer on Atlanta's final possession.

Anthony wasn't aware of the record, but he clearly knew his shot was on. So did the Hawks, and Smith may have been expecting a jumper on the last possession and was caught flat-footed when Anthony went right by him.

"It was just a matter of me just taking them shots and making them," Anthony said. "I know I'm capable of making them, but when I'm making them from the outside, from the perimeter, it opens up the game that much more, for myself, for my teammates, and that's what happened tonight."

Amare Stoudemire and J.R. Smith each had 18 points for the Knicks, who were 16 of 27 (59 percent) from 3-point range. Raymond Felton had 12 points and 10 assists in his second game back after a 10-game absence with a broken right pinky.

Jeff Teague scored 27 points for the Hawks. Smith added 20 and Al Horford had 16.

Anthony matched the Knicks' record for 3-pointers held by John Starks, Latrell Sprewell (twice) and Toney Douglas. He also tied Richie Guerin's franchise record with his 29th straight 20-point game. He pulled up for the final one during a streak of three in a row in the first half from the `G' in the wording "Madison Square Garden" - a good 4 feet behind the line.

"One of them heat check shots at that time," he said, claiming he was unaware where he was standing and using the term for a player launching from extremely deep or extremely quickly to test how hot he really is.

Asked if he'd ever made 10 3s in a game, Anthony responded by asking how many he made last summer in the Olympics.

Indeed, he was 10 of 12 in a 37-game point game against Nigeria - not exactly a quality team such as the Hawks.

His biggest basket came nowhere near the arc.

The Knicks came out of a timeout down by one and Anthony found Smith on him after he was played much of the final period by DeShawn Stevenson, a rugged defender who had frustrated him into a potentially costly technical foul.

Anthony blew by Smith to the left, getting fouled as he laid the ball in.

"He took what the defense gave him," Felton said. "Josh Smith kind of lifted his leg a little bit and then he attacked the back leg, got to the basket and got the and-one. He's been doing a great job of finishing games for us and closing out and hitting big shots."

The ensuing free throw made it 106-104 and Anthony nearly came up with a steal on Atlanta's final possession, but the ball deflected out to Smith, who had a good look that was long.

"It was a good look. It just didn't go down," Smith said. "It was really a back-and-forth game. For us to be able to have a chance at making a game-winning shot or a tying field goal towards the end of that game (with) how well they shot the 3, lets us know that we had a pretty good basketball game ourselves. We just fell a little short."

A night after an ugly 97-80 loss, the Knicks had no problems on offense, though could never get much cushion against the speedy Hawks.

Anthony was poked in the eye by Stevenson with 1:51 left, and responded by angrily slamming the ball to the court, leaving the officials with no choice but to call the technical foul. Kyle Korver made the free throw to give Atlanta a 102-101 lead.

Anthony then missed a jumper, but Stoudemire was fouled and made two free throws. Horford scored on an alley-oop eight seconds later, setting the stage for Anthony's final basket.

The All-Star forward finished 15 of 28 from the field and was 9 of 12 behind the arc in his fourth 40-point game this season.

"It's difficult, because he can make the 3-pointer and he's also fast," Horford said. "He has a first step, like we say in the league, it's a quick first step and explosive. He's a good player."

Leading 27-25 after one, the Knicks ran off the first nine points of the second quarter, getting a pair of 3-pointers from Pablo Prigioni to open a 36-25 advantage. The Hawks wiped all of that away in about six minutes, but Anthony steadied the Knicks with three 3-pointers in the final 2:50. It was 52-all at halftime.

Anthony then hit five 3s in a 17-point third quarter, his final one making it 82-74. The Knicks needed all his offense to build a lead, with the Hawks making 9 of 13 shots (69 percent) in the period.

NOTES: Knicks guard Jason Kidd sat out the second half. The Knicks said the 39-year-old was just being rested. ... Because of Rajon Rondo's torn ACL, he will need to be replaced on the Eastern Conference All-Star team, and Hawks coach Larry Drew hopes Commissioner David Stern looks at Smith or Horford. "No doubt about it. I think both of my guys have been overlooked," Drew said. "It's unfortunate what happened to Rondo, but certainly my guys should be in consideration. Strong consideration." ... The Knicks acknowledged Tyson Chandler's All-Star selection during a first-half timeout. With Anthony voted to start, it's the first time the Knicks have had two players picked since Allan Houston and Sprewell in 2001.

---

Follow Brian Mahoney on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/Briancmahoney

Notebook: Knicks 106, Hawks 104

Adam Zagoria, for NBA.com
Posted Sun Jan 27, 2013 10:01 PM - Updated Mon Jan 28, 2013 3:14 AM

THE FACTS: With 12.5 seconds remaining and his team down by one, Carmelo Anthony drove to the left past Josh Smith for a go-ahead layup and an ensuing free throw that helped the Knicks beat the Atlanta Hawks, 106-104, at Madison Square Garden.

After Jeff Teague drove to the basket and kicked the ball out to the perimeter, Smith then missed a potential game-winning 3-pointer as time expired.

Anthony poured in a game-best 42 points, tying a franchise record by going 9-of-12 from deep. The NBA record for 3-pointers in a game is 12 (Kobe Bryant and Donyell Marshall).

Prior to the layup, Anthony had missed his previous two shots after getting poked in the eye by DeShawn Stevenson with 1:51 remaining. Anthony was then whistled for a technical foul when he slammed the ball down. Kyle Korver's free throw on the technical foul put the Hawks up 102-101.

J.R. Smith and Amar'e Stoudemire both scored 18 points off the bench and Raymond Felton tallied 12 points and 10 assists in just his second game back from a fractured pinkie.

Teague paced Atlanta with 27 points and six assists and five rebounds. Smith added 20 points, Al Horford had 16 and Stevenson 15.

QUOTABLE: "It was just a matter of not letting Josh Smith set his feet, not letting the Hawks set their feet. Just catching it and going. I knew if I can just get one step in front of them by catching them off guard, I had a chance of getting the ball up, getting the shot that I wanted. He probably was banking on me holding the ball out for the last shot and something like that, so it was just a matter of me catching and going at that point."

-- Anthony on the game-winner

QUOTABLE II: "That's the longest shot that I ever looked at. I mean, he had a wide-open shot and he almost banked it at that point in time. So that's a shot that you're looking at the whole time and it's taking forever to just make or miss."

-- Anthony on Josh Smith's potential game winner

QUOTABLE III: "He saw something he liked and he went for it...He's playing unbelievably high right now. It seemed every time he put it up it was going in. He kind of put the team on his back."

-- Tyson Chandler on Anthony.

THE STAT: One day after going 4-of-27 from beyond the arc, the Knicks went 16-of-27. Their season-high is 19.

THE STAT II: The Hawks dominated in the paint, outscoring the Knicks 50-22.

TURNING POINT: With Atlanta up 104-103 after an alley-oop dunk by Horford, Smith was called for an offensive foul with 22 seconds left, giving the ball back to the Knicks. Anthony then drove on Smith for what proved to be the game-winner.

QUOTABLE IV: "He's good on either elbow, I just decided to run it that way [to the left]. It gave Melo the wide open lane to the bucket. It was nice that he made the free throw and completed the play."

-- Knicks coach Mike Woodson

WHO'S HOT: After going 2-for-8 in his debut in Saturday's loss at Philadelphia, Felton went 5-of-9 for 12 points, hitting his first three shots.

WHO'S NOT: In the final minute of the game, Smith committed a backcourt violation, an offensive foul and then missed the potential game-winner.

NOTABLE: Woodson said Rasheed Wallace "hopefully" will practice this week. "He's still day-to-day," Woodson said before the Knicks faced the Hawks at MSG. "Hopefully he'll get a chance to practice this week and hopefully we'll get a chance to get him back on the floor, we'll see." The 6-foot-11 Wallace hasn't played since Dec. 13 and has been listed as "day-to-day" for a month and a half.

NOTABLE II: The Knicks reacted to the news of Rajon Rondo's torn ACL. "Every team in this league a key guy can go down and it can screw everything up," Woodson said. Iman Shumpert, who just recently returned from an ACL injury of his own, Tweeted: "Prayers of for Rondo...that AcL injury is the worst."

NOTABLE III: Jason Kidd "rested" in the second half, according to the Knicks, after starting and going scoreless in the first. He has been battling a sore lower back.

QUOTABLE V: "I decided to just pretty much rest him. I beat Jason Kidd up...I'm going to need him for the long haul and I think he knows that."

-- Woodson on Kidd

QUOTABLE IV: "He needed a breakout like that. He's been scoring, he just hasn't been shooting at a high rate. Tonight I couldn't rest him. I've been riding him third and fourth quarter and he came up big with with big shot after big shot. It was kind of nice to see."

-- Woodson

INSIDE THE ARENA: Jesse Jackson, Chris Tucker and Michael Strahan sat courtside.

UP NEXT: For the Knicks, Wednesday vs. Orlando, Friday vs. Milwaukee, Saturday vs. Sacramento. For the Hawks, Wednesday vs. Toronto, Saturday vs. Chicago, Feb. 2 @ Indiana.

• Hawks: Morrow, Williams
• Knicks: Camby, Wallace

• Hawks: --
• Knicks: Anthony

• Lead Changes: 22
• Times Tied: 14

• Arena: Madison Square Garden, New York, NY
• Officials: #22 Bill Spooner, #70 Brent Barnaky, #65 Sean Wright
• Attendance: 19033
• Duration: 2:32