Knicks, Robinson drop Hawks in OT

By Ken Sugiura

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

New York guard Nate Robinson and the Hawks' continued fourth-quarter failings made it a rather unhappy New Year's Day for the Hawks.

The 5-foot-9 Robinson, who had not played since Dec. 1, mired in coach Mike D'Antoni's doghouse, unloaded 41 points off the bench as the Hawks lost to the Knicks 112-108 in overtime at Philips Arena on Friday night.

"He started breaking us down and making plays, and we couldn't stop him once he got going," Hawks coach Mike Woodson said.

After losing both games of a two-game set with Cleveland on Tuesday and Wednesday, the Hawks have lost three in a row for the first time this season. They are 21-11, the same record they had after 32 games last season. New York, which has now swept the Hawks at Philips, is 13-20. Combined with Orlando's win Friday night, the Hawks are now three games out of first place in the Southeast Division.

It was an untimely loss for the Hawks, for whom wins are at a premium as their January schedule is loaded with tough matchups. A road game against Miami on Monday is next.

"You don't want three losses [in a row] to turn into 10 losses," guard Jamal Crawford said. "You have to shake it off and move forward."

For the third consecutive game, the Hawks showed a troubling inability to execute on offense down the stretch. Tuesday at home against Cleveland, the Hawks went scoreless for more than nine minutes from the end of the third quarter to the fourth in losing to Cleveland. Wednesday at Cleveland, the Cavaliers outscored the Hawks 29-16 in the fourth quarter to overcome a 17-point third quarter deficit to win 106-101.

Against New York, the Hawks led 82-67 one minute into the fourth quarter and led by 14 with just under nine minutes left. New York's zone defense gave the Hawks problems, as they repeatedly settled for jump shots and missed most of them.

Center Al Horford, who made 10 of 12 shots through three quarters, took only one shot in the fourth.

Said Woodson, "We should have posted the ball a little bit more, because I thought [forward Josh Smith] and Al somewhat had their way, but [the Knicks] stayed with the zone and sometimes those jump shots look very appetizing, and we didn't make them."

After shooting 50 percent from the field through the first three quarters, the Hawks made 8 of 22 shots in the fourth, going 1-for-5 from 3-point range.

"We just stopped playing," Woodson said.

Meanwhile, Robinson was scoring at will after sitting out the previous 14 games for the Knicks. Quick and explosive, Robinson blew by Hawks defenders to get to the basket and sizzled from long range.

He piled up 25 of his 41 points in the fourth quarter and overtime. He made 18 of 24 shots, including 3 of 5 from 3-point range, as the Hawks gave up 40-plus points to a single player for a second game in a row. Cleveland's LeBron James went for 48 on Wednesday in Cleveland.

"I've seen it for a long time," said Crawford, who was a high school teammate of Robinson's in Seattle. "He gets going, his confidence gets going, he feeds off the crowd. When he's going, he scores with the best of them."

Just ask the Hawks.