ATLANTA _ The losses had dated back to Jan. 4, a stretch of 18 straight games. And at this point, a win wasn't going to make much difference, other than giving the downtrodden Knicks the chance to retreat to the All-Star break with the gloom of a franchise-record losing streak behind them.
"It'd be huge, obviously," Knicks coach David Fizdale said optimistically before the game. "This has been tough. Any time you go through some losing it's tough, but you want to get them that win no matter what happens and it would be a good one obviously."
As they departed, most of the team bound for a week-long vacation with no one in the All-Star Game and only Kevin Knox and Dennis Smith Jr. having to head to Charlotte for part of the festivities, they left relieved to at least end the futility with a 106-91 win over the Hawks.
Thankfully, the road win was not greeted with any sort of confetti dropping to mark the end of the long drought.
Even if the Knicks refuse to admit to tanking, refusing to point to the NBA draft lottery and the prospect of fitting Zion Williamson for a Knicks uniform, the numbers are still overwhelming. The Knicks have lost 26 of 28 games _ 31 of 34 _ to put together an 11-47 record at the break. The win moved the Knicks out of the NBA's bottom spot _ now a half-game ahead of the Suns in the standings _ but all three of the league's worst teams will have an equal 14 percent chance of winning the top pick.
As amazing as it may sound in an 11-47 season, the Knicks have had the Hawks' number, beating them for a third time in four meetings this season.
The Knicks began the game by opening up a 14-0 lead, the Hawks going 4:34 before finally getting on the board as John Collins tipped in a missed shot. The Knicks built the lead to 15 by the end of the quarter as Atlanta shot just 6 for 29, including 0 for 9 from beyond the arc.
But that lead _ and optimism _ faded before halftime as the Hawks slowly crept back in, tying the score at 47 on an Amari Spellman 3-pointer with 1:27 left in the first half. The Knicks were clinging to a 54-51 lead at halftime.
Even if the lead disappeared, this time the Knicks never fell behind. Adjusting the starting lineup again, Fizdale inserted Luke Kornet and Damyean Dotson alongside Smith, Kevin Knox and DeAndre Jordan. The move didn't exactly work miracles even if the team got off to a solid start.
Kornet endured a brutal shooting performance, going 3 for 16 from the field. But it was his fellow Vanderbilt and Westchester Knicks product, John Jenkins, who came off of the bench to provide a lift. He hit five of his first six shots after not playing at all Wednesday in the loss to Philadelphia. The lift came from a number of unlikely sources. Kadeem Allen, also a recent call-up from Westchester, hit a 3 with the shot clock running down to push the lead to 97-85.
Jenkins had a chance at a tying 3 late Monday in Cleveland, just hours after getting the call-up, and he missed. And when the Knicks finally won a game it was Jenkins who was one of the main cogs with 14 points. Kornet delivered a final blow when he finally connected on a 3-pointer with 2:17 left to stretch the lead back to 15.
