Alec Burks, making his first start of the season, scored 15 of his team-high 23 points to spark a decisive third-quarter run for the New York Knicks, who held off the host Atlanta Hawks to win 99-90 on Saturday night.
The 23 points were a season-high for Burks, who started with Kemba Walker sitting out the second game of a back-to-back set.
Evan Fournier had 20 points while RJ Barrett scored 15 points and Obi Toppin added 13 points off the bench for the Knicks, who have alternated wins with losses their last eight games.
Trae Young scored 33 points and Clint Capela had a double-double with 16 points and a season-high 21 rebounds for the Hawks, whose seven-game winning streak was snapped. John Collins added 12 points.
The Knicks trailed by as many as five before ending the first quarter with a 28-27 lead. After Danilo Gallinari opened the second quarter with a 3-pointer, Toppin scored five points in a New York 9-0 run that ballooned to a 19-7 run to extend the lead to double digits (47-37) for the first time.
The Knicks led by 10 twice more before Young scored the final eight points of the half as the Hawks pulled within 51-50. Young drained a 3-pointer to begin the second half and Capela converted back-to-back alley-oops to complete the 16-0, halves-spanning run and give Atlanta its biggest lead at 57-51.
Fournier hit a 3-pointer out of a Knicks timeout to spark a quarter-ending 34-17 run. Young scored five straight to cut the deficit to 71-69 before Burks scored 12 straight points — on three 3-pointers and a trio of free throws — for New York over a span of 96 seconds and Julius Randle hit a driving layup at the buzzer to extend the lead to 85-74.
The Knicks twice led by 14 in the fourth before both teams — playing for the second time in as many nights — looked gassed down the stretch. New York missed its final 10 shots from the field but the Hawks missed six straight shots after a Capela dunk with 5:08 left and got no closer than nine points.
–Field Level Media