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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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 GAME FLOW
ATLANTA (AP) -- After scoring 17 points in his first career
start, Jason Terry could not contain his excitement.
|  | | Isaiah Rider came off the bench to score 13 for the Hawks. |
"I feel like I'm on top of the world right now," Terry said after helping the Atlanta Hawks end a three-game losing streak with an 83-70 victory over the New York Knicks on Friday night. "I'm floating on clouds."
Dikembe Mutombo pulled down 20 rebounds and added 12 points as
Atlanta held off New York after Latrell Sprewell's free throw
closed the gap to 68-66 with 7:07 remaining.
The Knicks' last field goal came on Chris Childs' 18-foot shot
from the right wing with 2:15 to go. Sprewell led New York, which
has lost seven of eight games on the road, with 17 points. Allan
Houston added 16.
Atlanta's lineup shuffle also affected leading scorer Isaiah
Rider, who apparently angered coach Lenny Wilkens with a
five-point, five-turnover effort in the Hawks' 83-70 loss to
Washington on Wednesday.
Chris Crawford started in Rider's place but failed to score.
Rider, who finished with 13 points, sat out the entire third
quarter before playing the final 10 minutes. He hit a big 3-pointer
for a 71-66 lead with 6:56 remaining.
"It's up to me to stay professional and help this team any way
I can," Rider said. "The fourth quarter is usually crunch time,
with no room for error. You can't worry about getting 25 points.
You have to play relative to the game."
Terry, a first-round draft pick out of Arizona, learned he was
replacing Bimbo Coles at point guard during Thursday's practice.
Though Coles came off the bench to score six points in nine minutes
of the second quarter, he sat the entire second half.
"He was supporting me -- that was the biggest thing," said
Terry, who had a game-high five assists and hit a 15-foot jump shot
with 1:51 remaining to make it 81-70. "I was looking at him the
whole night. He was guiding me through it. He knew I was nervous a
little bit coming in tonight, and his support helped me through
it."
Mutombo, the NBA's leading rebounder, led Atlanta to a 50-30
advantage on the boards. In the matchup of former Georgetown
centers, Mutombo outplayed Patrick Ewing, who had 12 points and
seven rebounds. Mutombo's 10-foot hook shot early in the third
quarter gave the Hawks an 11-point lead -- their biggest of the
second half.
Alan Henderson, who had nine rebounds, scored 10 of his 12
points in the first quarter.
Coming off a sizzling 59 percent shooting effort in a 109-94
home win over Milwaukee on Thursday night, the Knicks jumped out to
a 17-9 lead on Sprewell's fastbreak layup.
But New York ended the quarter by hitting only 4 of 15 shots and
fell behind by 14 in the second quarter on a basket by LaPhonso
Ellis, who finished with 16 points. The Knicks shot 37 percent from
the field for the game.
"We just struggled the whole time," Knicks coach Jeff Van
Gundy said. "We can't score enough right now on the road, and we
can't rebound. We're not getting good enough play."
The Knicks dropped to 3-10 in the back end of back-to-back
games.
"We haven't done well in that situation all year long,"
Sprewell said. "The trend hasn't changed. It doesn't matter who
they have on the floor or who we have on the floor."
Game notes
New York, the third-best team in the Eastern Conference,
dropped to 6-19 when trailing after three quarters and is 23-21
when scoring under 100 points. ... The Hawks committed 17
turnovers, but the Knicks managed only nine points off Atlanta's
mistakes. ... Jim Jackson matched a season low with five points.
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ALSO SEE
NBA Scoreboard
New York Clubhouse
Atlanta Clubhouse
RECAPS
Toronto 114
Boston 104
Atlanta 83
New York 70
Utah 89
Charlotte 87
Denver 122
Golden State 88
Portland 101
Vancouver 91
LA Lakers 107
Indiana 92
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