After a disappointing blowout loss to the Phoenix Suns last Friday, the New York Knicks had a great turnaround against one of their biggest and new “rivals” in the NBA, the Atlanta Hawks. With no Derrick Rose, Kemba Walker, Nerlens Noel, or Taj Gibson, not much was expected for the Bockers, but their new starting point guard put on the same act that he’s been doing off the bench, and he played it to perfection.

Alec Burks started at the point guard position, and was a human torch in the 3rd quarter, scoring 15 of his 23 in that frame. Evan Fournier was also due for another good game, and scored 20 points for the Knicks.

With no Gibson or Noel, Jericho Sims got to see the floor and had a highlight put-back dunk and some blocks. Obi Toppin, who is probably the best leaper on the team, used passes from Immanuel Quickley effectively, as well as a nasty dunk off a pass from Quentin Grimes.

Defensively, if you hold an NBA team like the Atlanta Hawks to only 90 points, that is a great accomplishment. Trae Young led the Hawks with 33 points and multiple deep 3’s over slightly sagging Knicks defenders, which is a frustrating thing to watch. However, remember, 90 points… for the whole game. One play that seemed to work out for the Hawks was the Young and Collins pick and roll where Collins catches and becomes the passer and throws a pass either out to the wing, or a lob to Capela.

The Knicks basically have a home game tomorrow as they go to Barclays Center to play the Nets.