There was plenty of evidence in numbers, but one didn’t need a box score in the Hawks 112-108 loss Monday night to the Knicks to see that something was amiss. The telltale sign came just 14 seconds into the second half — when Mike Budenholzer called a timeout —as his players appeared bored.
That would be an odd move at any time of the season, but after allowing the league’s lowest scoring team to build a 62-49 halftime lead on 57.1 percent shooting from both the field (24-of-42) and on 3-pointers (8-of-14), Atlanta’s head coach quickly saw enough to fairly stomp on the court as his team ran its first offensive set of the third quarter.