Knicks Blow 23 Point Lead Murray Has A Career Night

 

By Andrew Rosario

 

 

When the New York Knicks (3-3) hosted the Atlanta Hawks (4-3) last night at Madison Square Garden the only thing they had in common in this early season, is that they were both were in the midst of a 2-game losing streak. The Knicks had to contain nemesis guard Trae Young as the home town crowd remembered his performance when the Hawks eliminated the Knicks in 5 games of the 2020 playoffs.

 

It was back and forth early with the Knicks taking a quick 9-4 lead after a Mitchell Robinson slam dunk. Atlanta responded by outscoring New York 15-9 taking a 19-18 lead. It was the last lead Atlanta would take for the quarter. 

 

Led by Julius Randle (10 points) the Knicks closed out the quarter on a 14-2 run taking a 32-21 lead into the second quarter. Young was not a factor as he was held to 5-points on 2 of 12 shooting. As a team, the Knicks held the Hawks to 26.7% on 8 of 30 shooting. 

 

The momentum carried over into the second quarter with New York jumping out to a 62-47 after a 3-pointers by guard Jalen Brunson with 2:37 left in the half. Brunson would finish the quarter with a team high 11-points but Atlanta would not go away.

 

With 2:28 left before halftime, the Hawks went on a 10-2 run cutting the lead to 65-57 as Atlanta’s shooting guard Dejountey Murray finished the half with a game high 20-points. Now it was time to see if the Hawks could maintain the momentum in the third quarter that saw them cut the lead (65-57) to 8-points.

 

Both teams started out slow to begin the third quarter before Atlanta exploded going on a 22-6 run. By the end of the quarter, the Hawks outscored the Knicks 32-10 entering the 4^th quarter ahead by 14 (89-75). The Knicks took 11 shots in the third making only 4.

 

The scoring woes followed the Knicks into the final quarter as the Knicks did not score until Cam Reddish hits a 3-pointer with 9:32 left. The closest they would get was 10 points after an  Immanuel Quickley 3-pointer with 7:10 remaining. 

 

The Atlanta Hawks were led by Murray who scored a career high 36 points. Brunson led the Knicks with 20 in the 112-99 loss which dropped their record to 3-4 falling below .500 for the first time this season. Said Murray of his performance, “I’m a confident player and l say that in a very humble way. But l work very hard on my game.” Randle finished with 14 points and times took forced shots when the Hawks clamped down on him. At one point, the Knicks were up by as many as 23 in the first half only to collapse in the second half. Said Randle, “l think we got off to a great start, obviously. Being up by 23 at home you obviously expect to win the game. So it’s tough, it’s disappointing, but we got to keep moving on to the next one.”

 

The next one takes place Friday night when they play the first of two division rivals. They are in Philly before coming home to face the Boston Celtics Saturday night.