Hawks at Knicks
The New York Knicks knew it was going to be a process learning a new offense under coach Derek Fisher, and the early results have been uninspiring. The Knicks will try to snap a four-game slide when they host the Atlanta Hawks in the second of a home-and-home set on Monday. New York looked as though it had found a rhythm on offense in the first half at Atlanta on Saturday before falling off the pace after the break in a 103-96 loss.
The Hawks have yet to win on the road but managed to pull out Saturday’s triumph despite a slow night for center Al Horford, who was enduring his first back-to-back since returning from a torn pectoral muscle. Atlanta made up the difference with 27 points from Kyle Korver and some clutch 3-point shooting while outscoring the Knicks 55-35 in the second half. “It’s early in the season but it seems like when teams start to apply pressure to us in the second half we’re just kind of backing up and just allowing them to do that rather than just going out and playing our game,” Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony told reporters.
TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, NBATV, SportSouth (Atlanta), MSG (New York)
ABOUT THE HAWKS (2-3): Atlanta dropped its last two away from home by a total of five points, including a 122-119 double-overtime defeat at Charlotte on Friday. The Hawks were sluggish in the first half against the Knicks after the marathon in Charlotte but picked up the pace after the break on both ends of the floor in order to snap a two-game slide. “The difference was night and day, man,” Paul Millsap told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution of the disparity between halves. “We decided to come out and be aggressive. We made a commitment to get the job done and it showed.”
ABOUT THE KNICKS (2-5): Anthony scored 14 of his 20 points in the first quarter on Saturday before slumping to 2-of-10 from the field over the final three periods. “The lack of confidence we have as a team is affecting us at both ends of the court,” Anthony told reporters. “So we’ve got to figure out a way to kind of bounce back and get our confidence back.” The All-Star is having the roughest time finding his shooting touch in Fisher’s triangle offense and is 26-of-84 from the field during New York’s four-game slide.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Knicks PG Pablo Prigioni (ankle) has missed the last two games and remains day-to-day.
2. Korver went 6-of-9 from 3-point range on Saturday and is 19-of-31 on the season.
3. New York G Tim Hardaway Jr. is averaging 17 points over the last three games, up from 5.8 in the first four contests.