The Knicks’ frustration seeped out late in the fourth quarter, after the game had already slipped too far away. The series has been a chippy one between the hard screens, the errant hits to the face on both sides and the cabin fever that sets in during the playoffs.
With 3:05 left in the game, Julius Randle flung his right forearm into Danilo Gallinari’s chest as the Hawks forward drove by him, recrimination for a few possessions earlier when Gallinari had put an elbow in Reggie Bullock’s neck while boxing for a rebound and later sending Bullock chasing after him on the bench. It was the dirty work done by New York’s star, but he saw it as an obligation.