Hawks fight late to beat Knicks

"It was an unfortunate incident," Hawks coach Larry Drew said. "Now we'll have to wait and see what happens. I am sure the league will take a look at it, and we will go from there."

With 43.7 seconds to play, Marvin Williams pushed Shawne Williams in the back and threw a punch after Williams retaliated. The two players also had tangled on an earlier possession.

Officials immediately ejected Marvin Williams and, after reviewing a TV replay, they also sent off Shawne Williams. The Hawks didn't make Marvin Williams available to reporters after the game.

"It kind of escalated so quickly," Horford said. "I was running by and I tried to get in there without getting hit. Marvin is a great guy. Shawne really had to get under his skin for Marvin to react like that, or do something to him."

Horford's reaction had come earlier, with the Hawks on the verge of blowing their lead.

The Hawks led 91-76 to begin the fourth quarter, but the advantage was down to 101-97 when Horford stepped to the line for two free throws. He made the first and after Knicks fans responded with boos, walked toward the sideline and pumped his fist at the stands and yelled.

"I heard [Knicks fans], and it was kind of overwhelming," Horford said. "I was like, ‘Wait a minute, we are at home. Regardless of if there are a lot of Knicks fans here, our fans have to get up.'

"That's what I tried to do was hype the crowd up. They definitely gave us a lift to get us over the hump."

The Hawks backed up Horford's outburst by closing out the Knicks.

"I was glad to see that, I really was," Drew said of Horford's plea to fans. "It's a little disheartening to be at home and get so many fans cheering for the opposition."

Boasting star center Amar'e Stoudemire, dynamic point guard Raymond Felton and a deep assortment of shooters, the Knicks have plenty of scoring power. Drew figured slowing the NBA's second-ranked scoring offense would be key for his team, but that turned out not to matter so much with the Hawks' offense humming.

The Knicks had one of their better defensive efforts of the season while beating the Heat 93-88 on Thursday. The Hawks have more capable scorers than Miami, though, and New York couldn't get a handle on all of them.

Guard Joe Johnson scored 34 points to lead five Hawks scorers in double figures. Josh Smith scored 24 points, Horford had 19 points and 14 rebounds and Williams added 12 points.

Johnson, who also had eight rebounds and seven assists, muscled his way to the basket for scores. Smith scored in the post and energized the crowd with a one-handed, alley-oop dunk during the Hawks' second-quarter surge. Horford and Williams made the plentiful open jump shots that were available.

The Hawks made 51 percent of their shots, rebounding many of the misses, and ran the floor. The Knicks couldn't keep up early and couldn't get stops late.

Stoudemire, the NBA's No. 2 scorer, finished with 27 points, but missed 10 of his first 14 field-goal attempts. Four other Knicks scored in double figures for New York, including Felton with 21, but that wasn't enough to match the Hawks.

After losing 101-59 to the Hornets in their previous home game, the Hawks were up 60-47 at halftime against New York and kept their roll going. They scored 31 points in the third quarter and led by as many as 24 points.

The Hawks blew an 11-point lead in the final quarter while losing at Milwaukee on Wednesday. Poor shot selection and lax defense contributed to that collapse, and the Hawks showed signs of doing the same against New York before recovering.