Atlanta Hawks play New York Knicks at MSG on Sunday

The Atlanta Hawks will play their first game of 2016 at Madison Square Garden when they take on the New York Knicks on Sunday at 3:30 PM ET.

The Atlanta Hawks have had four days to rest from their thrilling come-from-behind win over the Houston Rockets on Tuesday night, 121-15. Atlanta will begin their 2016 part of their schedule when the play the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden on Sunday afternoon. Tipoff is at 3:30 PM ET and the game will air on Fox Sports Southeast.

Atlanta enters Sunday afternoon’s game with the Knicks with a 21-13 record, good enough for third place in the Eastern Conference and first in the Southeast Division. The Atlanta Hawks and the Toronto Raptors are both 2.5 games back of the first-place Cleveland Cavaliers in the East. Atlanta has a one-game lead over the 19-13 Miami Heat in the Southeast.

This is the third time that the Atlanta Hawks will play the New York Knicks. Atlanta has a 2-0 lead in the season series, winning both games back in early November. The Hawks have won seven of their last eight games and look to improve their 9-7 record away from Philips Arena.

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New York is a .500 team at home this year at 8-8, but sit in 12th place in the Eastern Conference with a 15-19 record. Though the Knicks do a solid job in the Atlantic Division (4-1), they have struggled for the most part against an improved Eastern Conference in 2015-16 (9-14). The Knicks are 3.5 games back of the eighth-place Boston Celtics for the final playoff spot in the East.

While the Atlanta Hawks needed four starters (Jeff Teague, Kent Bazemore, Paul Millsap, and Al Horford) to have at least 20 points to defeat the Houston Rockets on Tuesday night at the Toyota Center, do expect that the club will have more balanced scoring on Sunday versus the New York Knicks.

Atlanta’s offensive system under head coach Mike Budenholzer doesn’t typically have more than maybe one player score at least 20 points in a game, not like the four that the team needed to on Tuesday. Do expect that at least four of the five starters will have double figures in scoring though, but the team will need a better effort from their bench on Sunday to defeat the Knicks.

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Perhaps we will see shooting guard Kyle Korver, who went 0-for from the field on Tuesday, or backup point guard Dennis Schroder, who didn’t play on Tuesday, have great games versus the Knicks. Atlanta’s win over the Rockets was one that likely should not have happened, but strong teams find a way to win improbable games. A win over the Knicks on Sunday would make the Atlanta Hawks winners of eight of their last nine. Let’s Go Hawks!

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