ATLANTA — Knicks coach David Fizdale gives his team credit for not giving up during a losing streak that lasted nearly six weeks.
“I keep talking about this team’s character,” Fizdale said. “It would’ve been very easy for us to check out and get on to wherever we’re going to go, but we were desperate men. Those guys wanted this game really badly, and they came out and showed it.”
New York’s Dennis Smith Jr. drives to the basket as the Knicks won over Atlanta to end an 18-game slump. | AP photo
Dennis Smith Jr. scored 19 points and New York snapped a franchise-worst, 18-game losing streak with a 106-91 victory over the Atlanta Hawks on Thursday night (Friday morning Philippine Time).
The Knicks ended their longest skid within a single season with their first victory since Jan. 4 at the Los Angeles Lakers. New York, with the Eastern Conference’s worst record and second-worst overall, had dropped 26 of 27.
Kadeem Allen and John Jenkins each added 14 points. Damyean Dotson finished with 13 points and DeAndre Jordan had 13 rebounds for New York, which never trailed and only was tied twice, in the second quarter.
“I think we did a great job of guarding the pick-and-rolls tonight,” Smith said. “Our bigs did a good job of calling out the screens and switching and not giving them too many second chances.”
The Hawks, coming off an exciting victory over the Lakers two nights earlier, were flat throughout. They never pulled within single digits after John Collins’ hook shot made it 87-78 with 9:39 remaining.
Dewayne Dedmon led Atlanta with 21 points. Trae Young had 16 points and 11 assists.
The Knicks were up 14-0 before ending the first with a 28-13 lead. Mitchell Robinson closed the period by blocking DeAndre’ Bembry’s 3-point attempt. Atlanta missed its first 11 shots as its starters combined for two points.
“We can’t start the game like we did and expect to get a win,” Young said. “We’ve just got to learn from it and get better and regroup after the All-Star Game.”
The Hawks, who trailed 54-51 at halftime, have lost four of five.
“I like where we’re headed,” Atlanta coach Lloyd Pierce said of his team’s overall play this season. “As a first-time coach, I didn’t know if I’d be fighting players every day or disgruntled guys or guys not buying into it, but I think the guys buy into it and they enjoy each other. They enjoy my staff, which is very important.”