ATLANTA (AP) Paul Millsap scored 22 points, Al Horford added 19 points and the Atlanta Hawks won their sixth straight game with a 117-98 victory over the New York Knicks on Saturday night.
Carmelo Anthony, returning after missing one game with a sprained right ankle, finished with 18 points and 12 rebounds for the Knicks. New York has dropped three straight and seven of 11.
Atlanta trailed by 15 midway through the first quarter and was down 14 late in the third before blowing past the Knicks to take a 20-point lead on Thabo Sefolosha's three-point play early in the fourth.
Mike Scott had a season-high 18 points and Jeff Teague had 17 for the Hawks, who are 1 1/2 games back of the Eastern Conference lead.
Lance Thomas and Derrick Williams each scored 12 for the Knicks.
Disrupting New York's passing lanes on defense and passing the ball crisply around the perimeter on their end, the Hawks outscored the Knicks by 15 in the third. Millsap had 11 of Atlanta's 27 points.
The Knicks hit 10 of 13 from the field to take a 15-point lead in the first. Anthony scored nine points and had six rebounds in the period, but he took only eight shots the rest of the game.
Atlanta got within three in the second, but New York pushed the lead back to 14 and was shooting nearly 67 percent when Jose Calderon hit a straightaway 3 with 3:49 left before halftime.
New York finished the game at 48.1 percent.
The Hawks took their first lead of the game on Kent Bazemore's 3 at 7:56 of the third. The lead swelled to 17 on Horford's runner with 9 minutes remaining. Atlanta had outscored New York 52-21 since Calderon's trey.
TIP-INS
Knicks: Robin Lopez didn't return after leaving at 6:53 of the third with blood coming from a cut above his right eye. He inadvertently collided with Kyle Korver and his head hit Atlanta guard in the cheek. Lopez, who had nine points and four rebounds, needed six stitches. ... Anthony had 10 of New York's 21 first-half rebounds.
Hawks: Reserve F-C Tiago Splitter played 4 minutes of the first but didn't return because of right leg soreness. ... Atlanta missed nine of its first 13 shots from the field. ... The Hawks have won five of six in the series.
STILL RIDING THE PINE
Hawks G Tim Hardaway Jr., acquired from New York on draft night for a first-round pick, was on the inactive list for the seventh straight game. Unable to find a role in coach Mike Budenholzer's rotation, Hardaway has played in just four games this season. He was recalled Dec. 6 from a brief NBA Development League assignment, but has only been in uniform once. Hardaway averaged 10.6 points in his first two seasons with New York.
UP NEXT
Knicks: visit Boston on Sunday.
Hawks: visit Indiana on Monday.
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