Phillips Arena is the official home of the Atlanta Hawks.
But there was no evident home court advantage for the Hawks on Wednesday night as the Knicks came to town with what seemed to be their entire fan base.
The Knicks were able to knock off the Hawks, 95-82, in a game New York mostly had control of.
Atlanta came out fast offensively in the opening minutes of the game with a three from forward Kyle Korver.
Korver scored 25 points and was 6 of 10 beyond the three-point arc.
However, a versatile New York offense allowed the Knicks to lead most of the first half.
Carmelo Antony was the source of much of the Hawk’s defensive troubles in the first half as he was able to get open in the paint and make shots.
Anthony shot 17 for 27 from the floor and scored 40 points. He only made one three.
“Carmelo is playing at a very high level,”Hawks head coach Larry Drew said. “I thought there were times we defended him well, but he still made shots.”
The Knicks led by seven at the half allowing the Hawks to stay in it.
“We came out for the third quarter and I thought we did a good job as far as picking our energy up,” Drew said.
That energy was exuded through Korver, as he made two threes in the opening five minutes of the half while the defense started to contain Carmelo Anthony.
The Hawks chipped away the Knick’s lead, tying it up at 68 going into the fourth.
Then, the Knicks’s J.R. Smith took center stage.
J.R. Smith scored 11 of his 19 points in the fourth quarter, which included a monstrous dunk in the final minutes draining the Hawks’ energy and sealing the deal on the Knicks’s victory.
“When [J.R. Smith] gets going, he’s capable of hitting really tough shots. He made a couple on us tonight,” Korver said.
The Hawks had extensive trouble defending New York’s pick-n-roll offense.
“A high volume pick-n-roll team, they’re gonna pick you apart,” Drew said. “Minus Devin [Harris] tonight, we had to move some people around a bit. The matchups weren’t quite what we wanted.”
With just six more regular season games left, the Hawks are looking ahead to the playoffs.
“We have a lot of areas to grow,” Korver said while discussing the nearing playoffs. “We’ll watch a lot of film and tighten some things up.”
The Hawks get one day off and then face the Philadelphia 76ers at Phillips Arena on Friday at 7:30 p.m..
