Knicks put Hawks away early and quietly
Knicks point guard Raymond Felton drives to the basket during the first half against the Atlanta Hawks. (Feb. 16, 2011) Credit: Christopher Pasatieri
Tempers finally reached a boiling point, but by then, the Knicks were well on their way to victory.
Though the much-anticipated match-up between Amar'e Stoudemire and Atlanta's Al Horford didn't trigger any memorable trash-talking, Knicks guard Raymond Felton exchanged heated words with the Hawks center after a hard hit.
In the end, though, the smack-talk mattered little, as the Knicks put forth a total team effort to cruise to a 102-90 win last night at the Garden, snapping a two-game losing streak to the Hawks.
The Knicks improved to 28-26 heading into the All Star break - well above their 19-32 record at this time last year.
Though hampered by his sore big toe, Stoudemire didn't show it. The forward, who missed Saturday's win over the Nets, scored 23 points (12 in the first half) and grabbed seven rebounds.
"It was sore all night," he said of his toe. "But it didn't get worse, which is a great sign. So I'm going to ice it up tonight and take care of it over the weekend and I should be good to go by Wednesday."
In all, five players scored in double-figures for the Knicks, including Wilson Chandler (20 points), Danilo Gallinari (17 points, nine rebounds), Raymond Felton (13 points, 11 assists) and Landry Fields (11 points, nine rebounds).
Marvin Williams led the Hawks (34-21) with 17 points and Mike Bibby added 15.
Coach Mike D'Antoni said he didn't think entering the All-Star break with back-to-back wins would have any residual carryover to the second half of the season.
But the upbeat atmosphere in the home locker room after the game sent a different message.
"When we play against good teams, we've got the tendency to play harder, so I think tonight was a direct effect of that," said Stoudemire. "We knew we had to bring our 'A' game tonight in order to beat these guys.
"We have to have the same effort against teams that are not as good as the Hawks. But it was a great win for us and we'll take it going into the All-Star break, that confidence that we needed and now we can use that motivation for the second half of the year."
Unlike the Hawks' 111-102 victory in Atlanta last month - a game in which D'Antoni said the Hawks "hit big shots and we didn't" - the Knicks were in control from the start.
After the Hawks cut their halftime deficit to 52-45, the Knicks - who led by as many as 18 - opened the third quarter with a Gallinari three-pointer and never looked back.
"We started out with a lot of energy and we played good defense and most of the time when we do that we come through with a win," said Felton, who was assessed a technical foul for getting in Horford's face after the Hawks' center elbowed him with 3:49 to go.
After the game Felton said he had no issue with Horford. "It happens in the game of basketball," he said. "Elbow was thrown, you know, attitudes and tempers getting flared. It happens."
