Harrington paces Hawks to rout of Knicks

Joe Johnson scored 24 points and Josh Childress added 15 for the Hawks, who snapped a three-game losing streak. Marvin Williams and Salim Stoudamire each netted 13 in the win, Atlanta’s third in its last four attempts against New York.

David Lee paced the Knicks with 18 points off the bench and Jackie Butler scored 15 points in the loss, New York’s eighth in its last nine games. Eddy Curry added 14 points, while Channing Frye ended with 13 points and nine boards for New York.

The Knicks played shorthanded. Qyntel Woods missed the contest with a bruised left hip. Antonio Davis was eligible to return to the team after serving a five-game suspension for going into the stands on January 18 during New York’s 106-104 overtime loss at the Bulls, but was taken out of the lineup due to lower back pain.

The Knicks led 15-10 on Butler’s jumper, but the Hawks responded with a 12-4 run, capped by Harrington’s layup, to put Atlanta ahead 22-19. Tyronn Lue’s shot from well beyond the arc with time running down gave the Hawks a 30-29 edge after 12 minutes of play.

Despite 30 points in the paint for New York, Atlanta held a 61-53 edge at the half. Harrington scored 15 first half points.

With the Hawks leading 69-60, Atlanta reeled off a 15-5 spurt, including seven points from Williams, to extend the lead to 84-65 with 2:55 to play in the third quarter. Behind 12 Knicks’ turnovers, Atlanta outscored New York 31-16 in the third stanza and led 92-69 heading into the final frame.

The Hawks pushed the lead to 30, 99-69, on Stoudamire’s trey with almost 11 minutes to play, but the Knicks went on a 13-4 run, highlighted by Nate Robinson’s three-pointer, to narrow the gap to 103-82 with eight minutes remaining. New York could not muster another run and got no closer than 19 points the rest of the way.

Game Notes

Atlanta shot 47.6 percent from the field, while the Knicks connected on 51.5 percent of its shots. The Hawks won the rebounding edge, 39-34, including 16 offensive rebounds and scored 38 points off 23 New York turnovers...The Hawks bench scored 56 points...The Knicks have used 26 different starting lineups, the most in the NBA.