Hawks vs Knicks preview: Atlanta emerges from break to take on New York

The Atlanta Hawks emerge from a four-day break on Sunday with a matinee game against the New York Knicks. Atlanta is looking to take a 3-0 lead in the season series and to wrap up a three-game road trip on a winning note.

The Hawks defeated the Knicks back in October 112-101 at Madison Square Garden and again 117-98 at Philips Arena a little over a week ago. New York has made much progress since last season when they were one of the worst teams in the league but are struggling a bit going just 5-5 over their last 10 games. Their latest setback came in a 108-81 loss to the Bulls on Friday.

That prompted some harsh words from Derek Fisher who called out his team for "quitting" in the fourth quarter after they had just made a big comeback.

The Hawks have won five of six in the series and have seven of their last 10 games overall to climb into a tie for second place in the Eastern Conference standings. Atlanta had their six-game winning streak snapped on Monday with a loss in Indiana but knocked down 14 three-pointers in Tuesday's come from behind win over the Rockets.

Interesting for Atlanta in that that three-point barrage did not include a single make from Kyle Korver who is mired in a 2-for-26 slump over his last four games. Korver suffered a black eye in the previous meeting with the Knicks when he collided with Knicks' center Robin Lopez. The Hawks hope that four days off combined with a little practice time is enough to get Korver back on track.

Tiago Splitter missed the last two games for Atlanta with a mild calf strain. Atlanta has yet to release an updated injury report for Sunday's game. Mike Budenholzer told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution before the Indiana game that he didn't expect Splitter to miss extended time so it seems there would be a chance that he could return today.

Game Info

Game Date/Time: Sunday, January 3, 3:30 p.m. ET

Location: Madison Square Garden, New York, NY

TV: Fox Sports Southeast

Radio: V 103.3 FM