Mike Scott's Career Night Leads Atlanta Hawks Past New York Knicks

Finally, the eight game losing streak is over for the Atlanta Hawks after a surprising win over the New York Knicks at Philips Arena. Over the last few weeks, the Hawks played hard in every game, but could never get the job done with so many important pieces out with injuries. However, they finally pulled through last night with an amazing comeback win over the Knicks.

Facing a 17-point deficit in the third quarter, Atlanta looked poised to fall for the ninth consecutive time until the team decided to come together and pull through this time around. Entering the game, Atlanta was forced to play without their All-Star Paul Millsap, who sat out with a knee contusion. Millsap had been carrying the team on his back all season, but he was unavailable last night, which meant the Hawks needed a surprise performance from one of their own.

Mike Scott didn’t start the game, as coach Mike Budenholzer went with a smaller lineup against New York to start out. However, he quickly inserted Scott and kept him in the lineup after the power forward showed that he would be the one to take over for the Hawks last night. In 30 minutes of action, he scored a career-high 30 points and grabbed eight rebounds in an outstanding performance to help propel Atlanta to the win.

Scott got into a groove early in the game after he scored nine consecutive points at one point in the second quarter and never stopped scoring from there. He went an unbelievable 11-for-14 from the field, which included going a remarkable 6-for-7 from the three-point line. It didn’t matter who the Knicks tried to throw at him defensively because there was no stopping the athletic forward once he got into a rhythm shooting the basketball. He was a man on a mission to end the Hawks’ losing streak against New York last night.

With no Millsap, Al Horford, Pero Antic or Gustavo Ayon, Atlanta needed one of their big men to step up and Scott answered the call. Hopefully, this is a sign of things to come from the versatile power forward, too. The Hawks are fighting to make the playoffs in the Eastern Conference right now and need another player to raise his game while so many sit out with injuries.

Andrew Shaw is an Atlanta Hawks writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @AShaw003, “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google.