It’s been a frustrating season for the New York Knicks in Derek Fisher’s first season as coach, but at the end of a tenuous campaign, Coach Fisher’s squad is still showing passion for the game and pairing it with execution to produce some confidence-boosting victories.

The latest may have been New York’s best win of the year, a 112-108 defeat of the Atlanta Hawks, the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference, on Monday night in ATL. Afterward Coach Fisher explained the value of the experience the Knicks have gained in the last several days.

“Experience and confidence are really big in this game,” Derek said after the win. “The fact that we were in a similar situation in Orlando a couple of nights ago and we were able to finish that out, I think the guys remember that. You can build on that and I thought they continued to make plays on each end. It wasn’t pretty, it wasn’t perfect, but they got the job done.”

Though Derek saw plenty of room for improvement, he was pleased with high-scoring effort against one of the league’s best defenses, which marked just the third time all season the Knicks have tallied at least 112 points in a regulation contest. Paired with Saturday’s win over Orlando, New York now has their first two-game win streak since Feb. 27-28.

The back-to-back wins also moved the Knicks out of the NBA’s cellar and ahead of the Minnesota Timberwolves in the standings. The two teams went into play on Monday tied for the league’s worst record at 16-64, but the New York win coupled with a loss by Minnesota to New Orleans put the Timberwolves in the cellar. The team that finishes with the league’s worst record will have the best chance to win the lottery to determine the No. 1 pick in June’s NBA Draft.

But Derek has spoken often in the last few weeks about his lack of concern with getting the most ping-pong balls in the lottery. After all, that is still a game of chance and the 25 percent chance given to the team with the worst record is still far from a sure thing. He kept that tone on Monday because while  some questioned how the win over Atlanta will impact the Knicks in the long run, Derek said he can only focus on winning for the players presently in his locker room.

“You should never not play for pride,” Coach Fisher said. “I’m sure people are upset with us tonight, but I don’t think you can ever go out there and try and not play your best. It’s a hard thing to do while also saying you want to be the best. Those things don’t go together. Who we pick next year has no bearing on these guys’ lives and careers. This is about them, and they went out and played that way.”

Entering the game, Atlanta had already clinched the top spot in the East. But in their final home game of the best regular season in franchise history, the Hawks chose to play their starters with the exception of injured big man Paul Milsap. Still they were overcome by a Knicks team that sits 15th in the East and has already clinched the worst record in New York franchise history.

Derek’s squad started one rookie, one second-year player and no players with a career scoring average of more than 12 points, and together they topped an Atlanta squad that started three members of this year’s All-Star team, led by that All-Star team’s head coach, Mike Budenholzer.

Instead on Monday night it was Knicks rookie Langston Galloway who took on a starring role. The St. Joseph’s product tallied a game-high 26 points off 10-of-12 shooting from the floor and a perfect 6-of-6 mark from deep.

“He continues to make plays and do what he’s shown the ability to do,” Coach Fish said of Galloway. “He can make shots and he’s tough minded. Through mistakes and different experiences out there on the floor, he just continues to keep coming back no matter what happens. That’s what’s impressive about him and I thought our entire team had that mindset tonight.”

While the end result was picture perfect for the Knicks, it took them a while to get into that mindset. After a pair of Jason Smith free throws opened up the scoring, Atlanta’s fast-paced offense, which is predicated on ball movement, overwhelmed the Knicks. The Hawks mounted an 11-0 run to take an early nine-point lead and forced Derek to take an early timeout.

But Fish used that brief reprieve to calm his young squad down and help them to contend with Atlanta’s furious pace of play.

“It’s hard to get the guys prepared for the level of movement Atlanta plays with,” Fish explained. “Until you get out there and see how fast they’re cutting and how fast the ball’s moving and that you can’t keep up with them—it takes a while. And I think our guys were kind of surprised at their speed. Once we made that adjustment and the guys got the feel for what they were trying to do, defensively, we were pretty solid from there.”

Coach Fisher’s pep talk took immediately and New York reeled off a 19-9 run after the break at the 9:08 mark of the first. The Knicks’ run to answer was capped by a go-ahead bucket from Galloway that made it 21-20 New York.

While Galloway shined throughout the night, the Knicks leaned heavily on second-year man Tim Hardaway Jr. during the first frame. The Michigan product tallied 13 points on 5-of-8 shooting, and he hit two threes and dished out three dimes. He and the rest of the Knicks traded buckets with the Hawks from then on out and took a 32-28 lead into the second quarter.

In the second, the Hawks looked inside to All-Star Al Horford to even the score, but Quincy Acy matched him all the way. The third-year player out of Baylor had eight points off the bench in the second, and he kept the Knicks on top until Galloway and Hardaway returned.

With just under five minutes left in the half, Galloway canned a three to stretch the New York lead to 10. That bucket sparked a flurry of jumpers from the Knicks, part of a 15-5 run that gave them their largest lead of the night at 17. New York cooled over the final minutes of the half, but maintained a 62-49 lead at the break.

Facing that deficit, the Hawks stayed poised in the fashion of a No. 1 seed, and they looked to their leaders to mount a rally. In the third Atlanta’s All-Star trio of Horford, Jeff Teague and Kyle Korver combined for 20 points, and the Hawks shot 55 percent. The Knicks also gave Atlanta six easy points on five turnovers. Because of that, when the fourth quarter began, the East’s regular season champion had cut the New York lead to just five: 83-78.

The Hawks smelled blood and attacked early in the fourth and tied the game Korver found Shelvin Mack for a trifecta just over three minutes into the quarter. It was a similar situation to that which the Knicks had faced just two nights prior, when they saw their lead over the Orlando Magic disappear in the fourth quarter. In that game, the Knicks eventually held on for an 80-79 win—and the experience prepared them for the same scenario.

Galloway and Lance Thomas answered Atlanta’s mini-run to tie it with back-to-back threes and after a steal, Galloway buried another three in transition to push New York’s lead right back to nine, just 1:18 after the game had been tied. The three enormous buckets, which featured Hawk-like ball movement, and assists from Acy, Smith and Hardaway Jr. respectively, knocked Atlanta back on their heels.

The Hawks responded and twice brought the score back down to three. The Knicks had it back to six with under a minute to go, but a Korver trifecta followed by a jam from Mike Muscala, trimmed it back to just one. Hardaway pushed it back up with a 1-of-2 trip to the line, leaving Atlanta a chance to tie or take the lead with 14 seconds remaining. But Teague missed his mark, and Smith was there to pull down the big board.

On the other end, the big man calmly sunk two even bigger free throws, and the Knicks escaped Atlanta’s Philips Arena with win. Those two buckets gave Smith 20 points on the night to go with nine rebounds, five assists and two blocks. Hardaway also eclipsed the 20-point mark, going for 23 after starting with a 13-point first quarter. He added five dimes, while Galloway added six assists and five rebounds to his game-high 26. Acy was the only other Knickerbocker in double figures with 12 off the bench—though Larkin had nine points and seven assists.

NEXT UP

The Knicks (17-64) will close their season at home Wednesday night against the Detroit Pistons (31-50).

The rough season is going to end as an overall disappointment regardless, but the Knicks enter the final game of the year with just one goal: to end the season on a high note with a three-game win streak.

“As players, we’re trying to go out there and win the last games that we have,” said Jason Smith after Monday night’s triumph in ATL.

The Pistons currently lead the season series with the Knicks 2-1, but New York grabbed the most recent meeting with a 121-115 overtime win in the Motor City. While the Knicks topped the East’s No. 1 seed Monday night, the Pistons were falling to the second seed Cleveland Cavaliers.

Tipoff for the season finale is set for 8 p.m. ET from Madison Square Garden.

RELATED LINKS

• Fisher’s Take on Knicks Win over Hawks (MSG, April 13, 2015)
• Galloway scores 26 points, Knicks stunt Hawks (AP, April 13, 2015)
• Knicks stun Eastern Conference’s top team (NY Daily News, April 13, 2015)
• Derek Fisher won’t apologize for Knicks’ victory (ESPN NY, April 14, 2015)
• Hawks defensive stud talks up Knicks as FA landing spot (NY Post, April 14, 2015)
• Knicks at Hawks: Game Book (NBA, April 13, 2015)