The Knicks were already without Mitchell Robinson, who may have surgery on his hand this week.
The new center, Nerlens Noel, suffered three initial fouls. The reserve center Taj Gibson was scored with four fouls in the second quarter.
Atlanta hit 25 free throws in the first half. Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau gave a brief presentation of his alternative plan to use Julius Randle in the center and debutant Obi Toppin in the attack.
It’s not an ideal formation, especially against Atlanta’s Clint Capela, who finished with 15 points and 18 rebounds.
Fortunately for the Knicks, Noel returned to an exhausting second half amid major foul problems, when the Knicks advanced to 2-0 since Robinson’s injury.
In the third quarter, the Hawks achieved a 72-66 lead before the Knicks staged a 23-11 straight. It was a race that Noel helped start when he made two blocks in a straight line – one in Skylar Mays, the other in Kevin Huerter, the Albany native who fought hard (2 of 12).
“I was worried, ” Thibodeau said of the problems at his centers. “We talked about how they score fouls. It was called tight and we had to adjust. I found Nerlens incredible. It is not an easy confrontation. ”
The box score for Noel doesn’t necessarily shine, but he did all the brave defensive work that allowed the Knicks to survive. And he did this by playing through five fouls, marking his fifth with 8:36 left.
Noel scored six points (3 of 3 on the field), adding three blocks, two steals and four rebounds, finishing a plus-17 in 27 minutes.
Gibson scored just one point in 16 minutes, but was brave on a night when Toppin was practically a non-factor in 11 minutes.
The attack led by Hawks’ Trae Young was thwarted in the fourth quarter 28-22.
“The pick-and-roll coverage is huge when you play against this team, ” said Thibodeau. “You have to commit to the ball and commit to going back, commit to the rebound. This requires a lot of effort. You cannot relax a second. Chapel presses you, [John] Collins puts pressure on you and Young is a burden to deal with. These guys looked at a lot of pick-and-roll. Some defend very well. Some not as well as we would like. But we had a great effort from both centers. ”