In a clash against old rivals Trae Young and the Atlanta Hawks, the New York Knicks appeared likely to take home a much-needed victory had they sustained their first-half performance. With 6:59 to go in the second quarter, the Knicks took a 51-28 lead after an RJ Barrett triple, and the raucous crowd in Madison Square Garden certainly enjoyed what at that point was a dominant home team performance.

However, the Hawks proceeded to mount a 29-14 run to end the quarter, trimming the Knicks' lead to eight at the half, 65-57. Dejounte Murray sparked the comeback with back-to-back triples, and Trae Young came alive after a rough shooting first quarter. At the turn of the half, things only went from bad to worse for the Knicks, even as the Hawks (temporarily) lost their talisman Young to an eye contusion after he was hit by Julius Randle on the face.

The Hawks ended up opening a double-digit lead in the third quarter and didn't look back. In fact, the Knicks' 99-112 loss only adds to the franchise's ignominious record over the past 30 years, which has only been made worse by their inability to maintain leads in the 2022 calendar year.

Per ESPN's Tim Bontemps:

“From the desk of the great @StatsWilliams : The 23-point lead for the Knicks tonight is tied for the team's 3rd-largest blown lead in a loss over the last 30 seasons. Over that span, Knicks have led by 23+ points & lost in 5 games. 3 of those have come in calendar year 2022,” Bontemps wrote.

The Knicks had plenty of difficulties maintaining leads, especially during February 2022 when they seemed to fold everytime they went up big. On February 12, the Knicks blew a 23-point lead to the Portland Trail Blazers sans Damian Lillard, as they allowed 30 points to a streaking Anfernee Simons.

Only four days later on the 16th, they proceeded to choke away an even bigger lead to intrastate rivals Brooklyn Nets, relinquishing a 28-point advantage in a 106-111 loss despite the absences of Nets stars Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving. They allowed Cam Thomas, a player out of the Nets rotation these days, to explode late in the game.

And tonight, the Knicks allowed another guard to explode, this time giving Dejounte Murray carte blanche to tear up New York on both ends of the court.

For a team with playoff ambitions, Tom Thibodeau and the Knicks would have to clean up their act. The addition of Jalen Brunson, while a shrewd one, will not fix all of the Knicks' woes. Knicks fans will hope that they can feel confident enough in their team's ability to pull out the win when they see their team go up big.