After an 11-0 Start, Hawks Stopped Short By Knicks

When Larry Johnson ran on the court, he had a feeling the New York Knicks were going to beat the unbeaten Atlanta Hawks.

“That’s when I saw Steve Smith and Alan Henderson sitting on the bench in street clothes,” Johnson said, grinning.

Atlanta’s season-opening 11-game winning streak ended Thursday night when the Knicks rolled over the injury-depleted Hawks, 100-79, behind John Starks’ 20 points and a stifling defensive effort.

Atlanta played without leading scorer Smith (lower back spasms) and top reserve Henderson (sprained right ankle).

New York, holding opponents to a league-low 39.3% shooting from the field, limited the Hawks to season lows in points and field goal percentage (28 of 75, 37.3%).

Atlanta’s loss left the Lakers (10-0) as the only unbeaten team in the NBA.

“We came out real flat,” Coach Lenny Wilkens said. “We were kind of like in second gear. We didn’t shoot the ball very well, either, and that hurt us. I’m not saying we didn’t miss Smitty and Henderson, because they are keys to our team, but we just didn’t play very well.”

Atlanta had six players in double figures, paced by Christian Laettner with 16 points.

Phoenix 89, Chicago 85--Danny Manning scored 23 points, including two free throws with 2.7 seconds remaining, as the Suns kept Chicago winless on the road this season after Dennis Rodman blew a wide-open layup with 18 seconds left following a pass from Michael Jordan.

“I wasn’t expecting the pass,” Rodman said. “But I should have made the basket. We lost the game because of it.”

Jordan scored 30 points.

Chicago is 0-4 on the road to start a season for the first time since 1983-84, the year before Jordan joined the team.

Portland 93, Detroit 87--Isaiah Rider had 28 points and Kenny Anderson scored nine of his 17 in the final six minutes as the Trail Blazers used a 13-2 surge at Auburn Hills, Mich., to send the Pistons to the eighth loss in 10 games.

Malik Sealy and Grant Hill scored 17 points for Detroit.

Sacramento 97, Utah 95--Mitch Richmond scored 22 points and Lawrence Funderburke added 10 in the fourth quarter at Sacramento as the Kings snapped a 14-game losing streak against the Jazz.

Jazz guard Howard Eisley missed a 10-foot jumper to end the game.

Karl Malone had 32 points for Utah.

Houston 127, Toronto 97--Clyde Drexler had 21 points, eight rebounds and eight assists in three quarters at Houston as the Rockets handed the Raptors their franchise-record eighth consecutive loss.

Guard Damon Stoudamire had 25 points and 11 rebounds--one short of his career high--for the Raptors.

Indiana 109, Milwaukee 83--Reserve Travis Best scored 18 points to lead a balanced scoring attack at Milwaukee as the Pacers handed the Bucks their biggest loss of the season.