Knicks 90 - 100 Hawks
Final
  for this game

Green lifts Hawks over Knicks

Mar 31, 2012 - 3:15 AM Atlanta, GA (Sports Network) - Willie Green scored 15 of his 20 points in the fourth quarter and the Atlanta Hawks snapped a two-game losing streak Friday night by knocking off the red-hot New York Knicks, 100-90.

Green was 6-of-7 in the fourth, including a three-pointer from the left corner that stretched Atlanta's lead to 10.

Joe Johnson scored 28 points and Josh Smith had 23 for the Hawks, who are No. 6 in the Eastern Conference but now just a half-game behind idle Indiana for the fifth spot.

Carmelo Anthony scored 36 points -- his highest total in almost three months -- and Iman Shumpert had 25 for the Knicks, who lost for only the second time in 10 games since Mike D'Antoni resigned and Mike Woodson was named interim coach.

Woodson, who was fired as head coach of the Hawks and replaced by Larry Drew in 2010, made his return to Atlanta in charge of another team but didn't like the way the Knicks looked compared to their 22-point win over Orlando on Wednesday.

"We dug a hole and we kept grinding. I think we cut it to two, then we just couldn't make free throws," said Woodson. "We put ourselves in position to go up. I thought we missed four straight free throws and they got the spurt that they needed to secure the game.

"But we were sluggish, I thought, tonight. For some reason I thought we just didn't have the pep that we had at the Garden the other night."

Guard Jeremy Lin missed his third straight game because of a sore knee and the Knicks also continued to play without injured forward Amare Stoudemire.

The Hawks had a 74-69 lead entering the fourth quarter and it was still close until Johnson knocked down a three-pointer and Jeff Teague converted a steal at the other end into a fast-break dunk, making it 87-78 with 7:10 remaining.

The Knicks were within five on J.R. Smith's three-pointer, but Green scored the next seven points to push Atlanta's lead to 96-84. They included a layup and his three-pointer from the corner on back-to-back possessions.

"I was just trying to stay aggressive," said Green. "By me staying aggressive they (shots) started going down. Another one goes down, another one goes down and before you know it, you got it going (on). That's the way it went."

Green, who tied a season high for points scored, finished 8-of-9 for the game and was 2-of-3 from three-point range. Marvin Williams scored 13 off the bench and Teague had 11 points, while Zaza Pachulia pulled down 12 rebounds.

The Knicks, who are currently No. 8 in the Eastern Conference and third in the Atlantic, have played three games this week without Lin and Stoudemire, who is expected to be out up to four weeks. Lin is day-to-day.

Both teams came out hot. Johnson scored 12 points, Smith had 10 and the Hawks shot 60 percent in the first quarter for a 28-20 lead going into the second. Anthony had 12 points in the quarter and the Knicks shot 52.9 but were done in by a 6-0 burst at the end by Atlanta.

The Knicks cooled off, shooting just 30 percent in the second quarter, while the Hawks got eight points off the bench from Williams and were ahead by double digits the last five-plus minutes on the way to a 52-40 lead at the half.

Game Notes

The Hawks snapped a three-game losing streak in the series...The Knicks were coming off a 3-0 homestand that ended in their 22-point win over Orlando on Wednesday. They return home to play Cleveland on Saturday night...The Hawks went 1-1 on a two-game home swing that started with a 98-77 loss to the Bulls on Wednesday. They are at Philadelphia on Saturday.






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