Balanced Knicks ease past shorthanded Hawks

New York, NY – Jeremy Lin netted 17 points and dished out 82, at Madison Square Garden.

Steve Novak also scored 17 points for New York, which improved to 9-2 over its last 11 games. Landry Fields had 16 points, Carmelo Anthony dropped in 15 and J.R. Smith contributed 12 for the Knicks.

Jeff Teague dropped in a game-high 18 points for Atlanta, who will be without leading scorer Joe Johnson until after the All-Star break because of tendinitis in his left knee.

Willie Green added 16 points and Josh Smith had 13 with seven rebounds in Atlanta's fifth loss in six games.