Knicks 95, Hawks 82
ATLANTA -- Carmelo Anthony set the tone from the start, hitting a 12-foot jumper on the first possession of Wednesday's game.
The New York forward scored inside, mid-range and outside while racking up 13 first-quarter points, 24 points by halftime and a grand total of 40 to lead the Knicks to a 95-82 win over the Atlanta Hawks at Philips Arena.
Anthony finished with his seventh 40-point game this season, and the Knicks (48-26) extended their winning streak to 10 games.
Kyle Korver, left open repeatedly, kept the Hawks in the game, scoring a season-high 25 points and extending his consecutive game streak with a made 3-point shot to 69 games. Korver went 6-for-10 from beyond the arc, 9-for-14 from the floor overall.
New York's J.R. Smith scored 10 of his 19 points in the fourth quarter. Raymond Felton added 14 points for the Knicks, and Steve Novak had nine.
Jeff Teague finally broke through for the Hawks in the third quarter and finished with 15 points. Josh Smith scored 10 points, despite going 0-for-7 at the free-throw line, and added eight rebounds and five assists. Al Horford, held to two points and four rebounds in the first half, finished with nine points, seven rebounds and five assists.
The Hawks (42-34) couldn't make a field goal for nearly seven minutes late in the the first quarter but were down only 47-40 at the half despite a 9-2 Knicks run to close out the second quarter.
A 7-0 run by the Hawks midway through the third quarter, sparked by more aggressive play and more running, tied the game at 68 as the fourth quarter started. But the Knicks broke it open in the fourth, courtesy of seven Hawks turnovers. New York outscored Atlanta 27-14 in the final period.
NOTES: Knicks coach Mike Woodson, who coached the Hawks from 2004-10, was greeted warmly by everyone he ran into at Philips Arena on his way from the team bus to the visitors' locker room. "I would never knock this organization," Woodson said when asked about his tenure in Atlanta. "It's beautiful to see," he said of the Hawks' fortunes since he left, particularly the growth of Horford, Smith and Jeff Teague, whom Woodson called "Rook" for Teague's entire first season. "I was young at it, too, when I started here. And it was nice, to grow as a team. They were good to me and I like to think they thought I was good for them." ... Hawks coach Larry Drew went with a starting lineup designed to match up with the Knicks' size, going with Teague, Korver, DeShawn Stevenson, Smith and Horford. ... Devin Harris, who had one of his periodic treatments on his sore left foot in New York on Wednesday morning, was not available for the game. ... John Jenkins is still out per the NBA's concussion protocol. ... Atlanta forward/center Zaza Pachulia underwent season-ending surgery to repair his right Achilles at Mercy Hospital in Charlotte, N.C. The procedure was performed by Dr. Robert Anderson with Hawks team physician Michael Bernot attending. The expected recovery time is six months.
