Knicks' slide down standings continues with 116-100 loss to Hawks
NEW YORK — The play-in tournament never felt so real.
The same Knicks who were once threatening for the Eastern Conference’s No. 2 seed have taken a walloping on the injury report and have plummeted down the standings in the second half of the season.
Jalen Brunson’s late scratch (bruised left knee) left the Knicks without their four-best players. Brunson, Julius Randle (dislocated right shoulder), OG Anunoby (right elbow surgery) and Mitchell Robinson (left ankle surgery) are all out of the rotation for an extended period of time.
Without their offensive firepower, the Knicks lost to the Atlanta Hawks, 116-100, at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night.
The Hawks were without All-Star guard Trae Young, who underwent hand surgery and will miss about four weeks of action.
Young’s absence didn’t make the Hawks any better on defense — but the Knicks were unable to take advantage of the shoddy Atlanta defense.
In fact, the 3-point-happy Knicks shot just 3 of 16 from downtown in the first quarter despite getting several open looks.
It didn’t matter.
The Knicks shot 16 of 52 (30.8%) from downtown on the night, lost on the glass, 51-40, and were uncharacteristically poor taking care of the ball with 11 turnovers on the night, including a number of costly errors in the opening period.
In short, they violated the main tenets of Tom Thibodeau’s basketball philosophy: force the defense to collapse to generate open 3s, win the rebound margin, don’t give the ball away.
New York trailed by as many as 22 and never led in a wire-to-wire victory for the lottery-bound Hawks.
The Knicks can’t afford to play this poorly with the players who are out of the rotation.
Especially not if avoiding the play-in tournament and retaining outright playoff status is top priority.
The Knicks entered Tuesday night in sole possession of the East’s No. 4 seed but only a half-game in front of the fifth-seeded Philadelphia 76ers.
The 76ers, who are without MVP Joel Embiid (meniscus) lost to the Brooklyn Nets on Tuesday, but the No. 7 Miami Heat defeated the Detroit Pistons.
Only 2.5 games separated the No. 4 Knicks from the No. 8 Indiana Pacers in the East standings ahead of tip-off.
Tuesday’s loss marked the Knicks’ ninth defeat in their last 13 games.
The Hawks lost seven of their last 12 games entering their matchup at Madison Square Garden.
Donte DiVincenzo shot 5 of 17 from downtown for 21 points, and Bojan Bogdanovic added 19 off the bench.
Miles McBride and Alec Burks each chipped in 11 points each, and Josh Hart finished with 14 points, eight rebounds, six assists, a steal and two blocks.
Hart played his seventh consecutive game with 40 or more minutes amid a flurry of injuries plaguing New York.
The Knicks signed backup guard Shake Milton after he cleared waivers via the Detroit Pistons, but he did not play against the Hawks on Tuesday.
The Knicks now get two days of rest before hosting the Orlando Magic on Friday.
The Knicks are 0-3 against the Magic this season, including an 18-point loss in a game Brunson went for 33 points.
Brunson’s status is unknown for Friday against Orlando, adding to a growing list of reasons why the Knicks are freefalling in the second half of the season.
