The Knicks no longer have their massive losing streak and no longer are the NBA’s worst team. Happy Valentine’s Day. When it was over, Coach David Fizdale’s wife, Natasha, flew into the arms of a Knicks staffer. Indeed, her husband needed this night. In their final game before the All-Star break, the Knicks charged to a 14-0 lead and upset the Hawks, 106-91, at State Farm Arena on Thursday in snapping their franchise single-season record 18-game losing streak. Fizdale can savor it on a Caribbean beach with no games until next Friday against the Timberwolves, preserving an 11-47 record that is no longer the league’s rock bottom. They have eked past the Suns (11-48). NBA FANS' 'BUILD THE WALL' AND 'TRUMP' JERSEYS SPARK SOCIAL MEDIA REACTIONS “We hung in despite the losses we had faced all the way to the break,’’ Fizdale said. “I keep talking about this team’s character, it would’ve been very easy for us to check out and get on to wherever we were going to go. But we [were] desperate men. Those guys wanted that game really badly and they came out and they showed it.” Before Thursday, their most recent victory had come nearly six weeks ago on Jan. 4 in Los Angeles against the LeBron James-less Lakers. The streak extended through the franchise-altering Kristaps Porzingis trade. The key piece obtained in the Porzingis deal, Dennis Smith Jr., broke out of a recent funk with a sensational night in his first win as a Knick. He scored 19 points with seven assists, making 7-of-10 shots and badly outplayed rookie Hawks point guard Trae Young (6-of-19, three turnovers). Smith was 0-6 with the Knicks before Thursday’s win. “Super satisfying,’’ Smith said. “We came in, me and [DeAndre Jordan] came into a situation with a team on a losing streak and obviously it was up to us to change it. It took us a little minute to do it, but now we finally turned it around. We’ll try to get on the opposite side of that hill, start moving in a good direction.” Backup point guard and two-way G-Leaguer Kadeem Allen continued to excel off the bench, adding 14 points and nine assists, and newcomer John Jenkins scored 14 points. Their emergence will give Fizdale a lot to think about when injured point guards Frank Ntilikina and Emmanuel Mudiay return after the break. This was a night of celebration, though Fizdale said the locker room didn’t go nuts — even if the Knicks were 2-31 in their past 33 contests. WATCH: ACTRESS REGINA KING NEARLY TRAMPLED WHILE COURTSIDE DURING NBA GAME “It was great, but it wasn’t overreaction,’’ Fizdale said. “I think they know that we’ve been beating on the door. I think the gratification getting over the hump finally with our defense. That’s a heck of a team.” The Hawks, who had been a respectable 7-9 in their previous 16 games, shot 6-of-29 in the first quarter and scored 13 points. They finished shooting just 36.3 percent. “We just played a complete game,’’ said Kevin Knox, who scored nine points with 10 rebounds. “We played 48 minutes together on offense and defensively, playing the great rotations, on-ball defense, challenging at the rim. We did a really good job staying together for 48 minutes. After not scoring in the game’s first five minutes, the Hawks (19-39) rallied in the second quarter and tied the game at 51 on a Young 3-pointer with 50 seconds left in the half but never took the lead. “We go up 14-0, they come all the way back and really made it a game,’’ Fizdale said. “How do we respond to that? I thought our response coming out of the half was really good.’’ CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Damyean Dotson (13 points), one of six double-figure scorers, hit a corner 3 to send the Knicks into halftime up 54-51. The Knicks held off the Hawks late in the third. Allonzo Trier gave the Knicks a 79-72 lead with a 3-pointer in the final minute after Luke Kornet, who had missed 13 of his first 14 shots, finally buried a 3. Red-hot rookie center Mitchell Robinson put in his own miss and then dunked a follow. Meanwhile, Young got called for a charge in the backcourt and the Knicks entered the final period up 82-73 and never had to sweat in the final period. “Obviously it feels good for me,’’ Fizdale said. “But I’m on to vacation now. I’m going to let this one go and get ready for the first one coming out.’’<doc-sep>The New York Knicks snapped their single-season franchise record 18-game losing streak on Thursday with a 106-91 win at the Atlanta Hawks on Thursday. "It would have been very easy for us to check out and get to wherever we were going to go [during the All Star break], but we were desperate men," Knicks coach David Fizdale said. "Those guys wanted this game really badly and came out and they showed that." The Knicks players and Fizdale seemed relieved on the sideline once it was clear that New York had secured the win. The Knicks last won on Jan. 4. "We've got a lot of competitors in the locker room as well as our staff, so it's a great feeling; it's a great feeling," said Dennis Smith Jr., who led the Knicks with 19 points and seven assists. The Knicks' previous longest single-season losing streak was 16, set in 2014-15. The franchise's longest overall losing streak was 20 games over the course of two seasons, from March to November 1985. New York still has one streak alive -- the club has lost a franchise-record 17 consecutive home games. Thursday's win left the Knicks (11-47) with the second-worst record in the NBA, ahead of the Phoenix Suns (11-48). New York hopes to use a top draft pick in June to further its rebuild. In the new lottery odds this season, the three teams with the worst records will share a 14 percent chance of getting the No. 1 overall pick. In addition to having a top draft pick, New York also projects to have $70 million in cap space this summer -- enough to sign two max free agents.<doc-sep>This wasn’t hard to process. The Knicks extended their franchise-record single-season losing streak to 18 games after suffering a predictable setback to the 76ers, 126-111, Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden. With their 26th loss in the past 27 games, the NBA-worst Knicks (10-47) remain winless since Jan. 4, having also lost a record-extending 17 straight home games since Dec. 1. The Knicks hold a legitimate chance to end the skid Thursday night in Atlanta (19-38) — which has lost two of three meetings with the Knicks this season — but victory has never been so hard for anyone in the exceedingly young locker room to envision. “I’m not sure [what it will take], but we’re trying to figure that out right now,” said rookie Allonzo Trier, who scored a team-high 19 points off the bench. “We’re not good enough to win right now, and we’re tasting that. “Nothing in this game is guaranteed. You have to work your way up. That’s what [the Sixers] were able to do. They had a path they set for themselves and it’s got them to where they are right now, and we’re working on our path to create some success down the line.” Earlier this season, coach David Fizdale said he believed the Knicks wouldn’t be forced to endure a years-long “Process” like Philadelphia to become an Eastern Conference contender, thanks to the presence of Kristaps Porzingis. Now, with New York’s former franchise player in Dallas, the team is banking on a fortuitous pingpong-ball bounce in the draft lottery, and two superstar free-agent arrivals, to end the rebuilding this summer. “It just depends on how all that stuff goes,” Fizdale said before the latest loss. “A lot of these teams made fast jumps. Some teams take longer to get there. It just depends on how all that stuff goes in the offseason. “I like where we are. I really do. I like what we’re sitting on right now, and I’m excited for our future.” Even the bleakest offseason would be less unsettling than the latest crowd inhabiting the Garden, making it sound like game, and Amtrak tickets, had been given away on Broad Street. Led by “Process” prizes Joel Embiid (26 points, 14 rebounds) and Ben Simmons (18 points, seven assists) — and recent addition Tobias Harris (25 points), a Long Island native — Philadelphia (37-21) was comfortably in front nearly the entire night, hitting 14 of their first 18 shots in a 37-point first quarter. The Sixers took a 71-55 lead to halftime, while shooting 63 percent from the field against a helplessly overmatched Knicks defense, and extended the lead to 26 in the third quarter. Slowly, the Knicks chipped away, with four first- or second-year bench players (Trier, Damyean Dotson, Mitchell Robinson, Kadeem Allen) combining to score 52 points. “They were major for us. They held us in the game,” Dennis Smith Jr. said. “The starters got to do our part.” The Knicks sliced the deficit to six with less than seven minutes to play, but never got closer, leaving the floor in familiar fashion. With two months left in the regular season, the current goal is simple. “We definitely need one [win],” Lance Thomas said. “I don’t want any of our guys to have a losing spirit. That’s something that’s really hard to shake if you accept that.”<doc-sep>
ATLANTA — The New York Knicks finally won a game. After failing to pick up a victory for than a month, enduring loss after loss to earn the worst record in the NBA, the Knicks beat the Atlanta Hawks 106-91 on Thursday night at State Farm Arena to break their 18-game losing streak, the longest single-season skid in franchise history. The Hawks threatened to take the lead at times, but the Knicks (11-47) did enough to stay on top before pulling away for good in the final minutes. Dennis Smith Jr. scored 19 points and handed out seven assists, while John Jenkins and Kadeem Allen, who have spent most of the season in the G-League, each scored 14 points. "We hung in there and despite the losses we had faced all the way even up to the break — and again I keep talking about this team’s character— it would’ve been very easy for us to check out and get on to wherever we were going to go," coach David Fizdale said. "But we were desperate men. Those guys wanted that game really badly and they came out and they showed it." With the win, the Knicks no longer own NBA's worst record. That now belongs to the Phoenix Suns, who are 11-48. Long losing streak The Knicks came to Atlanta reeling. Their previous victory was Jan. 4 against the Los Angeles Lakers, which came while LeBron James was sidelined with a groin injury. They pushed some good teams, like the Toronto Raptors, but lost to some bad ones, too, like the Cleveland Cavaliers. In a season focused on development, wins were always going to be hard to come by. Still, piling up loss after loss and experiencing that sort of run of futility isn't good for any team. They needed a victory. Good start Playing on the second night of a back-to-back after losing to the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday, the Knicks got off to a fast start while the Hawks sleepwalked through the first quarter. The Knicks built an early 15-point lead with rookie Kevin Knox scoring seven points in the first quarter. The Hawks, meanwhile, were dreadful. They shot a paltry 6-of-29 from the field, including 0-of-9 from long distance, and finished the first period with a measly 13 points. Things changed quickly. The Hawks started making shots in the second quarter to climb their way back. Dewayne Dedmon hit back-to-back 3-pointers to slice the Knicks' lead to nine points, prompting Fizdale to call timeout. Atlanta tied the game at 47 on an Omari Spellman 3 before a pair of Allen free throws put the Knicks back ahead. Sharp-shooting Jenkins, signed to a 10-day contract, scored nine points in the period to help the Knicks stay ahead. Still, their comfortable lead was gone and they went into halftime up by just three points. Holding on New York managed to stay on top through the third. Allonzo Trier drained a 3-pointer with 39 seconds remaining in the period to put the Knicks up by seven. After a Trae Young free throw, Mitchell Robinson had a dunk and Allen made one of two from the foul line to give the Knicks a nine-point lead at the end of the quarter. With the Hawks threatening, Allen hit a key 3 with five minutes left in the fourth to put the Knicks back up by 12. "I thought our response coming out of the half was really good," Fizdale said. The Knicks badly needed a win. They finally got one. "We just played a complete game," Knox said. "We played 48 minutes together on offense and defensively, playing the great rotations, on-ball defense, challenging at the rim. We did a really good job staying together for 48 minutes." Chris Iseman writes for NorthJersey.com, part of the USA TODAY Network.