Hawks Lose in Madison Square Garden, oh wait, I mean Philips Arena.

Recap for the people who didn’t watch it:

Billups and Turiaf were game-time decisions. Neither of them played. However, that didn’t stop the Knicks from getting off to a good start. The Knicks started by making their for shots while the Hawks started the game going 1 for 5 and 2 turnovers. Some of the Hawks’ shots were good look, they just didn’t fall in. Josh Smith, who was inactive the two games before this one, started the game by shooting jumpshots, getting a technical, and getting 2 fouls (in the span of 7 minutes). However, the Hawks tightened up their defense even without Josh Smith, making the Knicks miss some shots. Only problem was, the Hawks’ offense wasn’t any good either. They committed 6 turnovers in the first quarter and their best offensive players failed to make shots.  Joe Johnson struggled. Al Horford struggled. Jamal Crawford struggled. Without Hinrich making 2 three pointers in the first and Teague scoring a pair of buckets inside, the Hawks would have been limited to single digits in the first quarter. The Knicks led by 5 after the first quarter, 24 to 19.

In the start of the second quarter, the Hawks’ shooting woes weren’t done. Josh Smith continued to take jumpers (and missing), and guys like Jamal Crawford were missing their wide open jumpers. As the quarter went on, the Hawks slowly got it going. Joe Johnson started to feel it, (surprisingly) hitting tough shot after tough shot. It looked like Joe was going to do the same thing he did against Oklahoma City. The offense started looking decent, but the defense was the problem. Amar’e Stoudemire and Landry Fields had their way in the second quarter, combining for 14 points. The Hawks cut down the lead though. They trailed the Knicks 44 to 42 after 1 half of basketball.

In the third quarter, Josh Smith started out by taking a 3 pointer and making it, giving the Hawks their first lead of the night. Smoove afterwards, got a tip in for the Hawks putting them up 3. Joe then made a pretty spin move on a fastbreak to put them up 5 early in the 3rd quarter. It looked like the Hawks were finally taking control of the game. Then, the Hawks offense started getting stagnant. The ball movement stopped and Iso-Joe happened. Joe would dribble a lot then take a jumper at the end of the shot clock, which would result in a miss or a shot clock violation. The Knicks eventually took the lead and kept it. The Hawks’ had a chance to take the lead back by the end of the quarter, but Anthony Carter made sure that wasn’t going to happen. In a span of about one minute, Anthony Carter forced a turnover, got a fastbreak layup, and hit a 3 point shot to end the 3rd quarter. That was probably the turning point of the night. The Knicks led by 6 after one quarter.

In the 4th quarter, the Hawks traded baskets with the Knicks for a few minutes. Then, the Knicks decided to take over. They got on a run and were up by as much as 18 points. There wasn’t any energy or effort or intensity seen on the Hawks’ team during the whole quarter. That kept the Hawks fans quiet and the Knicks fans riled up. During that 4th quarter, it felt like a Knicks home game. The Hawks fans weren’t heard from and all you can hear are Knicks fans screaming and chanting “MVP, MVP, MVP” when Amare goes to the line.* The game eventually ended and the Knicks won by 13.

*If those Knicks fans really think Amar’e is the MVP, that just shows how little they watch the NBA and how much of a bandwagon fan they are.

Final Score: Knicks 92 | Hawks: 79

Why Hawks fans should be worried:

The Hawks got blown out against the Knicks even though….

• Billups and Turiaf didn’t play.
• Carmelo had a horrible shooting night.
• Carmelo didn’t play in the entire 4th quarter.
• Josh Smith returned from his injury.

Another thing to worry about is the homecourt advantage. Come playoff time, will we see another showing like this? There were a lot of Knicks fans (didn’t outnumber the amount of Hawks fans) in the building and they out-noised the Hawks’ fans. I’ve been to a lot of big games in Philips Arena when there were a lot of fans from the opposing teams, but they never made more noise than the Hawks fans. The cheers for the opposing team was unbelievably too loud yesterday. I just hope come playoff time, the amount of Hawks fans in Philips Arena grow and the amount of noise they make increase. I’m not putting all of the blame on the fans, the owners and management need to do a better job marketing for the team and get the ATLiens into Hawks’ basketball. That’s easier said than done though.

Also, the 4th seed and homecourt advantage is slowly slipping away. The Hawks are now 3 games back from the Orlando Magic with only 19 games left. The Hawks need to get on a good streak soon if they want homecourt in the first round.

My other Noteable Notes:

• Damien Wilkins played good minutes for the Hawks. He only finished with 2 points, but his work on the defensive end was praiseworthy. He frustrated Carmelo through out the game, you got to love the toughness he showed.

• Al Horford was nowhere to be seen. He finished the game, shooting 2 for 8, managing a measly 4 points for the entire game.

• Kirk Hinrich had another good game shooting the ball. His defense wasn’t anything to brag about, but he played solidly.

• Coach Drew’s big man rotation still confuses me. One night, you’ll see one player play a lot of minutes then the next night they won’t play at all. This time, Hilton Armstrong got the big minutes while Zaza Pachulia got limited minutes and Jason Collins, Josh Powell, and Etan Thomas got all DNP-CD’s. I think it’s clear for me who the best (not necessarily good) back up big men in the team. I personally like Zaza Pachulia and Etan. Jason Collins had some good stints early during the season, but he’s been a non-factor recently. Josh Powell hasn’t had a good season and Hilton Armstrong doesn’t seem to be contributing. Zaza Pachulia has proven himself in the past few seasons and Etan Thomas has given a lot of toughness and energy whenever he does play. LD is looking for toughness on the team, why not play the two toughest backup big men we have?

• This is the first time, in Mike D’antoni’s stint as a Knicks coach, the Knicks held a team under 80 points. Is it the Hawks’ offense struggling or the Knicks defense playing that well? I say both. More so the Hawks’ offense just being stagnant.

• This is a tough game to lose. Like I said on Twitter (follow me @WillSevidalSDS), this game was bragging rights until next season. Not only for the two teams but for the fans too. I’ll be hearing a lot from some New York fans I know, I hope your Knickerbocker friends aren’t too hard on you (Hawks fans).

Next game is against the Los Angeles Lakers at Philips Arena on Tuesday. That will be a tough one. The Lakers are rolling, let’s just hope the Hawks team gets it together.