Walker leads Knicks over Hawks, 101-87
NEW YORK » Kemba Walker couldn’t have envisioned this Christmas.
Less than two weeks ago, his coach wouldn’t even call his name.
On Saturday, his hometown fans were chanting it.
Walker became the seventh NBA player with a triple-double on Christmas, and the New York Knicks beat the depleted Atlanta Hawks 101-87 for their first win on the holiday in a decade.
“It was amazing,” Walker said. “Those are moments that you dream about. It’s kind of hard to put it into words, to be honest.”
Julius Randle had 25 points and 12 rebounds for the Knicks in a matchup of teams that met in the first round of last season’s playoffs. But the Hawks were missing Trae Young among nine players in the NBA’s health and safety protocols, so it wasn’t much of a rematch of Atlanta’s fivegame victory.
Walker finished with 10 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds. The 6-foot guard raced around the floor trying desperately for his 10th rebound for much of the second half, finally getting it in the fourth quarter when Mitchell Robinson’s block came to him.
It was the first tripledouble on Christmas since Golden State’s Draymond Green in 2017, continuing Walker’s strong stretch since going from a ninegame stint out of the rotation to back in the starting lineup when the Knicks were short-handed.
He said he couldn’t have foreseen things turning so quickly.
“This is not how we pictured it,” he said. “I ain’t complaining, either.”
Fans in the sold-out crowd chanted “Kemba Walker! Kemba Walker!” for the New York native, who scored 44 points in a loss to Washington on Thursday.
“As a teammate, as a brother, I’m happy for him that he’s able to come out and be who he is,” Randle said. “I’m sure when he signed to come here this is kind of what he envisioned, playing the type of basketball that he’s playing right now.”
Evan Fournier and Quentin Grimes each scored 15 points for the Knicks, who snapped a sixgame Christmas skid. They are 23-31 in their leaguehigh 54 appearances, but hadn’t won one since 2011.
John Collins and Delon Wright each scored 20 points for the Hawks, who were playing on Christmas for the first time since 1989. They had their sixgame road winning streak snapped.
Bucks rally late in Antetokounmpo’s return for 117-113 win
MILWAUKEE » Giannis Antetokounmpo returned from the NBA’s healthy and safety protocols to score 36 points on Saturday, but Wesley Matthews stole the spotlight when he knocked down a 3-pointer with 30.3 seconds left to give the Milwaukee Bucks their first lead en route to a 117-113 win over the Boston Celtics.
Seeing his first action since Dec. 12, Antetokounmpo played 30 minutes and connected on 13 of 23 shots while shooting 10 for 15 from the free-throw line. Milwaukee also got center Bobby Portis and guard Donte DiVincenzo back from COVID-19 protocols in time for the televised Christmas showdown.
Boston had just eight players available after putting Dennis Schroder in the protocols earlier Saturday, but took control behind Jaylen Brown, who scored 14 of his 25 points in the opening quarter. Jayson Tatum also scored 25 for Boston, which led by as many as 19 and went into halftime with a 35-22 advantage.
Milwaukee trimmed the deficit to one when Middleton knocked down a 3 with 3:39 left in the third. But the Celtics answered with five straight and opened the fourth with a 8-0 run, including six from Parker, who converted a threepoint play to make it 10290 with 10:15 to play.
Portis’ put-back with 8 minutes left was the start of the Bucks’ charge, tying the game at 111 when Antetokounmpo scored and drew a foul with 1:26 left. He missed the free throw and Brown made a pair on the other end to put Boston back in front.
But Matthews buried his 3 for a 114-113 lead, and the Bucks held on.
Portis finished with 16 points, while DiVincenzo, who hadn’t played since suffering a left foot injury in the playoffs last season, got his first and only points on a 3-pointer late in the third quarter.