The NBA playoffs start this weekend and the Hawks still haven't secured home-court advantage in the first round.
It's also been a while since they've had a complete effort against a quality opponent.
The Hawks erupted for perhaps their best offensive performance of the season against a good defensive team Sunday, only to get shredded by the Knicks for a 113-112 defeat at Philips Arena.
“It's frustrating for the fact we are still playing for something and yet, defensively, we were non-existent,” Hawks guard Joe Johnson said.
The Hawks allowed 94 points through three quarters and lost when Knicks star Carmelo Anthony took advantage of a defensive miscue to score the final basket. Atlanta's last gasp fell short when Marvin Williams missed a dunk attempt just after the final buzzer.
Atlanta's loss assured Indiana (41-23) will be the third seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs. The Hawks (38-26) still can earn home-court advantage if they finish ahead of the Celtics (37-27).
The Hawks had a chance to earn some leeway for their final two games with a victory over New York (34-30). Atlanta led 112-111 after Johnson's 3-pointer with less than two minutes to play.
But soon after Johnson's basket fell through the net, Anthony was standing alone behind the 3-point line. Teammate Baron Davis passed to Anthony, who buried the shot.
“We gave him a wide-open three,” Hawks coach Larry Drew said. “Going down the stretch you have to make plays, and that doesn't mean just on the offensive end. You have to put strings of stops together.”
The Hawks only did so for one stretch of the fourth quarter, a time when their offense also halted. Otherwise the Knicks matched them shot for shot until Anthony scored their final seven points.
Anthony scored a game-high 39 points but needed 32 shots to do it.
“We made him work,” said Hawks forward Josh Smith, who was one of three defenders to take turns guarding Anthony. “But it's kind of disappointing to look at the stat sheet and see that Landry Fields had that kind of impact.”
Fields, starting in New York's small lineup with center Tyson Chandler out, scored 18 points and made 7 of 8 shots. Amar'e Stoudemire had 22 points for the Knicks, which shot 54.4 percent from the field.
Atlanta lost in spite of shooting 53.9 percent, scoring 26 fast-break points and making 15 3-pointers.
“When you are playing against teams like New York, you have to make sure defensively you are in the same page," Drew said. "We had some simple, simple breakdowns.”
The most costly was Anthony's final 3-pointer. After each team failed to score on consecutive possessions, the Hawks had a chance to win after they called timeout with 3.4 seconds left.
Williams took the inbound pass from Johnson and then faked a hand off to Johnson before driving to the basket. The clock expired as Williams went up for a dunk attempt that bounced away as Stoudemire challenged.
Williams said he thought Stoudemire made contact on the play.
“The ref didn't call it, so it's not a foul,” Williams said.
Williams scored a team-high 29 points while making 10 of 14 shots. Jeff Teague added 23 points and Johnson finished with 22.
Johnson said he thinks he should have got more than three shots in the final period.
“I just figure you have got to put the ball in the hands of your playmakers,” he said. “The Knicks did it all game. They made sure they got the ball to the right man.”
Atlanta led 65-60 at halftime, which represented the most combined points in a half this season for Atlanta. Both teams scored easily when they didn't turn the ball over: The Hawks shot 59 percent and had 12 turnovers, New York shot 60 percent and matched Atlanta's turnovers.
The Knicks led 98-93 early in the fourth quarter, the Hawks led 106-102 with seven minutes to play and then the margin was two points or less over the final six minutes.
“That was an old school shootout,” said Knicks coach Mike Woodson, the former Hawks coach.
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