NEW YORK – Arron Afflalo went right from in a slump to in the zone.
He made his first seven 3-point attempts and scored a season-high 38 points to lead the New York Knicks to a 111-97 victory over the Atlanta Hawks on Sunday.
Afflalo was 14-for-17 from the field and finished 7-for-8 from behind the arc while nearing his career-best performance of 43 points.
“To shoot the ball the way he did and chase Kyle Korver defensively, which is about as hard of a job as you can have defensively as a guard in the NBA, was very impressive,” Knicks coach Derek Fisher said.
Robin Lopez finished with 16 points and 11 rebounds, and Kristaps Porzingis added 14 points for the Knicks.
New York Knicks’ Jerian Grant, center, drives to the basket through Atlanta Hawks defenders during the first half of the NBA basketball game, Sunday, Jan. 3, 2016 in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)Paul Millsap scored 19 points, Kent Bazemore had 18, and Al Horford and Korver both finished with 13 for the Hawks.
The teams meet again Tuesday in Atlanta.
“We just didn’t have our game today, and New York is part of the reason we didn’t have our game,” Atlanta coach Mike Budenholzer said. “We have them again on Tuesday. We’ll have to prepare, think about what it takes to execute better on both ends, and we’ll do that before Tuesday.”
New York jumped to an 11-2 advantage and led most of the way in bouncing back from its franchise-worst fourth quarter in a loss at Chicago on Friday.
“Credit to New York, they played well as a group,” Budenholzer said. “Obviously Arron Afflalo had a very good individual game. It just wasn’t one of our better days. I thought the effort was pretty good, our guys tried.”
Budenholzer praised the play of his point guards, Jeff Teague and Dennis Schroder.
“We’re very fortunate to have both of them and Shelvin Mack as a third point guard,” Budenholzer said. “We feel really strongly about him, too. It’s great to have two guys that can attack, get to the paint and play with speed.”
The Knicks improved to 8-2 when Afflalo scores 15 or more points.
“To be honest, I play 30-plus minutes,” Afflalo said. “If you’re going to have a player out there that long, he has to be effective. The way we have things structured offensively, I do think it’s important that as I do get more involved and engaged in the game, it gives us a better chance to win.”
After shooting a combined 20-for-63 from the field in his previous six games, Afflalo hopes he has broken his shooting slump for the long haul.
“I want to play well and I want to play well consistently,” Afflalo said. “For me, consistency is more important than great games and very bad games. The more I can be counted on night in and out, the better it is for the team.”
Knicks guard Cleanthony Early, who was shot in the knee during a robbery on Wednesday, is out of the hospital, Fisher said. There is no timetable for his return.