Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2009

Atlanta Hawks (5-2) at New York Knicks (1-7), 7:30 p.m.

The Atlanta Hawks will be attempting to keep up their strong start to the young season, as well as extending the early woes of the New York Knicks, when the two teams get together at Madison Square Garden this evening.

Atlanta has won five of its first seven outings of 2009-10 and heads to the Big Apple off an easy home victory over Denver on Saturday. Former Knick Jamal Crawford led the way in the 125-100 rout with a team-best 25 points.

Joe Johnson and Josh Smith each netted 22 points for the Hawks, who had seven players finish in double figures. Al Horford put together a double-double in the win, recording 11 points and a game-high 12 rebounds.

"I think it was a great team effort, we have such a really good starting five," said Crawford, who serves as Atlanta's sixth man. "We (the bench players) just have to make things easier for them, give them a lead and that's what we tried to do."

The Knicks have struggled mightily thus far in head coach Mike D'Antoni's second season at the helm. New York has dropped seven of its first eight tests to begin this campaign and is currently saddled with a four-game losing streak following Monday's narrow home loss to Utah.

New York rallied from a 21-point third-quarter deficit against the Jazz, but Mehmet Okur scored a tie-breaking basket with 1:16 remaining to lift Utah to a 95-93 triumph.

Okur put home the rebound of a missed shot by Deron Williams to snap a 93-93 deadlock, and the Knicks misfired on three shot attempts down the stretch. New York had one final try to force overtime or take the lead, but rookie Toney Douglas' double-clutch jumper clanked off the rim as time expired.

Douglas ended with a team-high 21 points, while Wilson Chandler racked up 17 points and 18 points for New York in a losing cause.

"We keep searching and hoping," said D'Antoni afterward. "There's little spurts, starts and stutters. We can work with this and try to get better."

The Knicks will try to bounce back tonight in the second test of a three-game homestand. New York has gone just 1-4 at the Garden so far this season, however.

On a more positive note, Knicks guard Nate Robinson has resumed practicing after sitting out the team's last five games with a sprained right ankle. There's a chance that the fifth-year pro, who averaged career bests of 17.2 points and 4.1 assists last season, could be back in the lineup tonight.

The Knicks won two of three matchups from the Hawks in 2008-09, with both of those wins taking place at Madison Square Garden. Atlanta prevailed in all four meetings between the teams the previous season.