Afflalo, Anthony lead Knicks past Hawks 107-101

The New York Knicks and Atlanta Hawks should know each other pretty well by now, considering the two teams meet Tuesday in Atlanta for their third matchup in an 11-day span. The scheduling quirk provides New York guard Arron Afflalo another opportunity to torch the team he burned for 38 points in Sunday’s 111-97 victory. Mandatory Credit: Anthony Gruppuso-USA TODAY Sports Jan 3, 2016; New York, NY, USA; New York Knicks center Robin Lopez (8) looks for the pass as Atlanta Hawks forward Paul Millsap (4) defends during the first quarter at Madison Square Garden. The Knicks had two more 15-point leads but Korver hit two 3-pointers in the final minute and Atlanta was within 86-76 entering the fourth.

“To be honest, I play 30-plus minutes”, Afflalo said.

“The 7-foot, 240-pound Porzingis and the 6’5”, 201-pound Bazemore went face-to-face after the play. “So I can rely on them to if they have it they can make a play for themselves and if they don’t they can make a play for somebody else”. Calderon only finished with seven points, but arguably made the biggest and most important play of the game. Carmelo Anthony had 20 points and seven rebounds to lead the Knicks.

Kristaps Porzingis is dunking on veterans, screaming passionately to his supportive fans, and evolving into an overnight sensation.

NY jumped to an 11-2 advantage and led most of the way in bouncing back from its franchise-worst fourth quarter in a loss at Chicago on Friday.

But, in the big picture, Afflalo would probably trade his breakout performance against the Hawks for a month full of 15-point games. “I thought the effort was pretty good, our guys tried”.

He averaged 21.0 points while making 13 of 27 from downtown in three games against the Knicks during last season’s All-Star campaign but has scored just 18 while making 4 of 10 from deep in this season’s first two meetings – including three points December 26.

The Atlanta Hawks lost twice in three days to the New York Knicks.

After winning four straight behind 108.3 points per game in mid-December, New York is averaging 93.5 in its last six. “We’ll have to prepare, think about what it takes to execute better on both ends and we’ll do that before Tuesday”. They trimmed 10 points off the deficit and cut it to 95-89 following a wide-open three by guard Jeff Teague. “It’s going to happen a couple more times especially when we get down the stretch and the games get tight and gritty”.

Backup center/forward Tiago Splitter (calf strain) is the only known scratch for tonight’s game. The Knicks protected the rim pretty well, moved the ball nicely, weathered some streaky three-point shooting, and beat a good, angry team for the second time in a row.