Atlanta Hawks snap skid, beat New York Knicks 107-98

Feb 22, 2014; Atlanta, GA, USA; Atlanta Hawks point guard Shelvin Mack (8) is fouled by New York Knicks point guard Pablo Prigioni (9) in the first half at Philips Arena. Mandatory Credit: Daniel Shirey-USA TODAY Sports

The Atlanta Hawks played the New York Knicks a day after their tough loss in Detroit. The quick turnaround and eight game losing streak obviously took a toll on the team this week. The hope was that the Hawks could take advantage of a Knicks team that had lost 4 of their last 5. However, the Hawks were still struggling with injuries, causing many of the Atlanta players to put up minutes they’ve never had to in their lives. What made matters even worse was that Paul Millsap couldn’t play with an apparent knee injury. The only question was whether the Hawks could have the legs to finish a full four quarters.

The first quarter was fairly solid with the Hawks outscoring the Knicks 24-23.  Jeff Teague and DeMarre Carroll stepped up to score 14 of those 24 points. In the second quarter, Mike Scott hit the floor guns blazing. Mike put up 9 points in a row for the Hawks in just under three minutes. Then, disaster struck. The Hawks only made two shots from the field for the rest of the quarter. Yes, they went almost nine solid minutes with two buckets. They were both 3-pointers, but still. That’s never going to do it in the NBA. So from a 33-23 lead after Mike Scott’s explosion, the Hawks found themselves down 52-39 at the half. I believe you could actually hear the air escaping the building.

Give the Hawks a lot of credit for their rally in the 3rd quarter. What has been a potentially disastrous quarter for the Hawks in the recent past turned to gold as the Hawks put up 29 points. Down by 11 points nearing the end of the 3rd, DeMarre Carroll and Lou Williams buried back-to-back 3’s to cut the deficit down to 5. The Hawks had been shooting the 3 ball well all game, so at the beginning of the 4th quarter, Mike Scott opened with a 3 of his own. Then, Lou Williams caught fire as he put in two 3’s. After that, Jeff Teague nailed a 3-pointer to make it 6 in a row for the Hawks. Suddenly, Atlanta was up 82-75 with 9 minutes left, and the battle was joined.

Could the Hawks finally finish? Mike Scott emphatically answered that question, YES! After setting a career high in points the night before, Mike came out and set a new career with 30 points in this game. He was absolutely unconscious for the game, making 6/7 from 3 point land, 11/14 from the floor, and had 8 rebounds. Jeff Teague also had a huge night scoring 28 points, 6 assists, and 3 rebounds. Those two players were more than half of the Hawks entire offense, even as the team shot an astounding 52% from the 3-point arc.

Sometimes a team just gets tired of losing and their hard work pays off. Tonight was that night. Ding-dong, the streak is dead, and the Hawks emerge victorious for the first time since the All-Star break. Stay tuned this Tuesday as the Hawks take on the Bulls at home.