Korver, big second half pushes Atlanta Hawks to win over New York Knicks

By E. Marcel Pourtout, Editor

The Atlanta Hawks mounted a second-half comeback to snap their two-game losing streak, defeating the New York Knicks 103-96 at home on Saturday night in Philips Arena.

Atlanta was coming off of a 122-119 double overtime road defeat to the Charlotte Hornets the previous night.

Kyle Korver had a game and season-high 27 points for the Hawks (2-3) along with three blocks. Its the first time in Korver’s career that he’s scored at least 20 points in three of the first five games of the season. Jeff Teague kicked in 19 points for Atlanta while DeMarre Carroll (12), Paul Millsap (11) also scored in double-figures. Dennis Schroder had a career-high 11 points along with five steals off the bench while Millsap grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds.

New York shot 47.6 percent from the floor while Atlanta was at 40.7 percent. The Hawks held a significant advantage from the free throw line, converting a season-high 28 of 36 attempts. The Knicks only made eight of 11 free throws.

“I’m proud of our group for the way they competed…the way they played in the second half,” Hawks’ coach Mike Budenholzer said. “I think that’s how we need to play for more of the 48 minutes. Collectively, the group really responded. We had a great defensive third quarter and we were able to hold on and win the game.”

Carmelo Anthony scored a team-high 20 points for the Knicks (2-5) but only six of them came in the second half. He also had a team-high nine rebounds in the loss.

Trailing 61-48 at halftime, Atlanta mounted a comeback, outscoring New York 27-13 in the third quarter. A Thabo Sefolosha layup with 55 seconds left in the third quarter gave the Hawks a 75-74 lead into the fourth quarter. It was the first lead they held since a 5-3 advantage early in the first quarter.

“It was just energy and a different mentality,” Korver said. “We came out and played like we lost in double overtime the night before. Coach (Budenholzer) challenged us at halftime and the guys responded. Thats just what we needed.”

The Knicks retook the lead 80-79 on an Amar’e Stoudemire layup with 8:36 left in the contest. He had 14 points off the bench for New York.

Atlanta tied the game at 85-85 with a three-pointer on the left side by Carroll with 6:28 to go. The Hawks took the lead for good with less than five minutes left in the game on a layup by Teague and a three-pointer on the right side by Korver, pushing the score to 92-88.

“The Hawks upped their pressure a little bit in the second half,” New York coach Derek Fisher said. “They got more aggressive and brought the game to us instead of us to them like we did in the first half. We couldn’t figure out a way to defend without fouling in the second half.”

The Knicks led after the first quarter 32-20, shooting 62 percent from the floor. New York’s had assists in six out of the eight baskets scored in the quarter.

Another dominant quarter saw the Knicks take a 61-48 lead into halftime. Anthony had a game-high 14 points and eight rebounds for New York while Korver scored a team-high 11 points.

Notes:

-The Hawks held the Knicks to 35 points, which is a season-low for a Hawks’ opponent in any half this season.

-Atlanta tallied a season-low nine turnovers which lead to a season-low 12 points off turnovers.