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Hawks-Knicks Preview

Mar 7, 2010 - 6:31 PM By JEFF MEZYDLO STATS Senior Writer

Atlanta (40-22) at New York (21-41), 7:30 p.m. EDT

The New York Knicks are in the midst of another miserable season. A few of their bright spots, however, have come against an Atlanta Hawks team that is headed toward the playoffs.

Coming off the worst 3-point shooting performance in league history, the Knicks look to bounce back with a third straight victory over the Hawks on Monday night at Madison Square Garden.

Sitting near the bottom of the Eastern Conference and set to miss the playoffs for a sixth consecutive season, New York (21-41) has lost 12 of 14.

The Knicks, however, have had little trouble against Atlanta recently. The Hawks are fourth in the East and trying to catch Orlando for the Southeast Division lead, but New York has taken four of the previous five meetings and the last two this season - both in Atlanta.

The Hawks won 114-101 at MSG on Nov. 11.

While New York has shot 51.8 percent and averaged 109.0 points against the Hawks in 2009-10, it will almost certainly need to improve from 3-point range if it wants to take the season series for a second straight time.

The Knicks set an NBA record for 3-point futility by missing all 18 attempts in a 113-93 loss to lowly New Jersey on Saturday. That came one night after New York went 3 of 16 from beyond the arc in a 102-96 defeat at Toronto.

The Knicks rank near the bottom of the league in 3-point shooting at 33.5 percent.

"At a certain point you do have to score some," said Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni, whose team went 12 for 23 on 3s in a 128-104 victory over Detroit on Wednesday.

Along with better long-range shooting, the Knicks need more of a contribution from Tracy McGrady. Averaging 12.4 points in nine games since being traded to the Knicks, McGrady was held to two on 1 of 6 from the field in 23 minutes against the Nets.

McGrady averaged 27.5 points in his last 13 games against the Hawks, although he has not faced them since March 2008.

David Lee had 23 points and Wilson Chandler scored 20 with 10 rebounds for the Knicks on Saturday. Chandler had 24 points and 17 boards in a 112-108 overtime win over the Hawks (40-22) on Jan. 1.

Former Knick Jamal Crawford has averaged 9.0 points and shot 34.4 percent against New York this season. He scored 24 in a 100-94 loss at Miami on Saturday that snapped the Hawks' four-game winning streak.

A poor fourth quarter doomed Atlanta, which shot 6 of 20 in the period and committed three straight turnovers in the final three minutes.

"We did some things that are not typical of us," said All-Star forward Al Horford, who has averaged 21.3 points and 14.0 rebounds against the Knicks this season. "It cost us the game."

Horford had 25 points and Josh Smith added 22 with 12 rebounds in the Hawks' win at New York in November.