Knicks 111, Hawks 97
NEW YORK -- Guard Arron Afflalo scored a season-high 38 points and made 12 straight shots as the New York Knicks barely trailed en route to a 111-97 win over the Atlanta Hawks on Sunday afternoon.
Afflalo had his best game as a Knick and did so after scoring 17 on 8-of-28 shooting in his previous three games. He made 14 of 17 shots, including all seven of his 3-point attempts.
The performance was six shy of Affalo's career high for points set Dec. 3, 2013. Affalo also tied a career-high in field goals and came within one of his career best for 3-pointers set against Milwaukee Nov. 13, 2013.
Affalo missed an 18-foot jumper with 10:38 left in the first quarter. He did not miss again until about 6 1/2 minutes left in the fourth quarter when his short jumper was blocked by Atlanta forward Kent Bazemore.
About a minute later, Affalo hit his seventh 3-pointer for a 101-86 lead, hitting an open right wing shot after forward Carmelo Anthony seized the rebound of a missed 3-pointer by forward Derrick Williams.
Center Robin Lopez added 16 and 11 rebounds for the Knicks, who rebounded nicely from scoring a team-record eight points in the fourth quarter in Chicago on Friday. Rookie forward Kristaps Porzingis added 14 for New York, which won despite a quiet 11-point from Anthony.
Paul Millsap led Atlanta with 19 points and 10 rebounds while also adding six assists and five steals. Bazemore added 18 for the Hawks while center Al Horford and guard Kyle Korver contributed 13 apiece.
New York seemingly was on the way to putting the Hawks away midway through the third quarter. Afflalo scored five points during a 10-0 run that expanded the lead to 74-57 with about five minutes remaining.
The Knicks had two more 15-point leads but Korver hit two 3-pointers in the final minute and Atlanta was within 86-76 entering the fourth.
New York regained another 15-point lead with 8:48 remaining in the fourth on Affalo's sixth 3-pointer, an uncontested shot from the right wing following an Atlanta turnover and officially sealed the game a few minutes later.
NOTES: Sunday marked the second of three meetings between the teams in a span of 10 days. Asked about holding any plays back, Atlanta coach Mike Budenholzer said: "We don't have any tricks." ... Knicks coach Derek Fisher was asked to elaborate about Saturday's comment when he called the team's defense in the last six games "horrendous" and he gave a vague response saying: "If we could pinpoint it, we would probably go out and do it," while adding it was a combination of things. ... Atlanta recalled former Knicks G Tim Hardaway Jr. from the D-League but he was inactive for the 20th time this season. ... Tuesday is the first day teams can sign players to 10-day contracts but Fisher said he has not had any discussions with team president Phil Jackson and GM Steve Mills about signing a player to replace G Cleoanthony Early, who is recovering from a gunshot wound to the right knee.