Knicks close Summer League with 90-82 win over Hawks

The Knicks’ Summer League finale proved to show more encouraging signs during Saturday’s 90-82 win over the Atlanta Hawks.

Obadiah Noel of the Westchester Knicks led the team with 15 points while Rokas Jokubaitis of FC Barcelona had 12 points, five assists and five rebounds while second-round pick Ariel Hukporti finished with 10 points and seven rebounds.

Second-round pick Tyler Kolek, who has impressed thus far with his ability to spread the ball around, dished another six assists in the win.

The Knicks got off to a slow start, digging themselves into an early 13-2 deficit, but Kolek led the charge to pull New York back into the game, draining two three-pointers while finding Dmytro Skapintsev for two alley-oops as the Knicks finished the quarter down, 21-18.

In the second quarter, it was Jokubaitis who made his mark scoring seven of his 12 points and adding three assists, including an alley-oop to Hukporti who posterized center Nick Ongenda that put the Knicks up by eight with six minutes to play as part of a 15-4 run to open the quarter.

The Knicks went into the half with a 43-38 lead they would not relinquish the remainder of the game.

The Hawks, who were playing without No. 1 overall pick Zaccharie Risacher, pulled within four in the fourth quarter, but that was as close as they got.

The Knicks, who finished Summer League with a 3-2 record, have to be encouraged by what they saw out of some players.

Hukporti showed he could potentially be the guy to fill the role left by Isaiah Hartenstein, averaging 8.4 points and 7.2 rebounds per game over the five-game span.

Kolek showed he can be a distributor and stingy defender, averaging seven assists over the five games and adding six steals while Jokubaitis – a 2021 draft pick who has played in Europe for the last two seasons – shot 57 percent from the floor.