Hawks at Knicks
The New York Knicks dropped their last two games while scoring an average of 81.5 points. The Atlanta Hawks, who visit the Knicks on Sunday, allowed an average of 121 points in back-to-back losses and surrendered at least 119 points in each of their last four setbacks.
New York was blown out 103-73 by the Boston Celtics on Wednesday and ended the two-game road trip by shooting 40.4 percent from the field in a 92-90 setback at Milwaukee on Friday. "Losing's not fun at all," Knicks All-Star forward Kristaps Porzingis, who went 13-of-33 in the two losses, told reporters after Friday's setback. "Offensively, that's what it is. We could've still won the game. We were right there. It was our game. Enes (Kanter) was the only guy who took a lot of shots and was over 50 percent. All of us needed to do a better job." The Hawks allowed the Charlotte Hornets and the Celtics to shoot over 50 percent in their last two losses and rank 28th in the NBA entering play on Saturday with a defensive field-goal percentage of .475. Atlanta's five losses in the last six games dropped it back into last place in the Eastern Conference.
TV: Noon ET, FS Southeast (Atlanta), MSG (New York)
ABOUT THE HAWKS (15-37): Atlanta point guard Dennis Schroder broke out of a shooting slump on Friday, when he scored 25 points on 10-of-20 shooting -- snapping a string of eight straight games in which he failed to hit half of his shots. Schroder got some help from small forward Taurean Prince, who broke out for a career-high 31 points on 9-of-17 shooting against Boston. Prince was held to a total three points on 1-of-12 shooting in the previous two contests and is averaging 12.3 points.
ABOUT THE KNICKS (23-30): The toughest shooting night on Friday came from shooting guard Tim Hardaway Jr., who went 1-of-14 from the floor and missed all nine of his 3-point attempts, including a desperation heave at the buzzer. "My shots weren't falling," Hardaway told reporters. "I put this on me. I put this one on my shoulders. I take all the blame for this." Hardaway went 1-of-10 from the field -- 0-of-3 from beyond the arc -- in Wednesday's loss to the Celtics and is shooting 41.5 percent from the field in the first season of a four-year, $71 million contract.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Kanter is averaging 18.5 points and 16.3 rebounds during a sting of four straight double-doubles.
2. Atlanta PF Ersan Ilyasova is 3-of-26 from 3-point range over the last eight games.
3. New York snapped a four-game losing streak in the series with a 111-107 home win on Dec. 10.