The Knicks’ season hit one of its lowest points in this game, and the Garden crowd let its displeasure be heard. With their second loss in a row, the Knicks’ record dropped to 15-12 and they remained percentage points behind the 76ers for fourth place in the Atlantic.
As ugly as the season was becoming, this outing was even more difficult to watch. The Knicks shot an astoundingly low 28.9 percent from the field and made just 2 of 18 shots in the fourth quarter. Jeff Van Gundy, his head already on the chopping block, called his team “fragile.”
“That’s a winnable game,” Van Gundy said. “You can’t be a fragile team in this league and we were tonight.”
The only bright spot was the defense, which limited Hawks’ guard Steve Smith to 14 points on 4-for-14 shooting.
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Emotions were running high, just days after Dave Checketts warned of a big shake-up if the Knicks, who came into the game at 18-17, didn’t turn things around.
Chris Childs promised to exact revenge on Dikembe Mutombo after the Hawks center knocked out one of Childs’ front teeth with a razor sharp elbows.
“I might not be able to reach him in the mouth, but I’m getting him back,” Childs vowed after the Knicks’ 86-78 victory at the Georgia Dome.
Childs had managed to slow down Mookie Blaylock, who lit up Charlie Ward for 28 points, but insisted Mutombo’s elbow was deliberate.
Childs had cooled down by the next Knicks-Hawks game on April 28 and there was no other incident.
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The two squads continued their tough-to-watch play, with the teams combining for 19 points in the third quarter – a record low since the advent of the shot clock.
The game was iced when referee George Toliver called a dead-ball foul after the Knicks staged a furious fourth quarter comeback. Allan Houston was whistled for holding Steve Smith on an inbounds pass and the Hawks expanded a one-point lead to four in the waning seconds.
“I’ve never seen that call in 10 years in a close game,” Jeff Van Gundy said. “That’s not an NBA call.”
The loss snapped the Knicks’ three-game winning streak despite 29 points from Latrell Sprewell.
