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NEW YORK -- Tim Hardaway Jr. hit the shot -- a 25-foot-dagger with the shot clock and game clock dwindling -- to put his New York Knicks up four with less than a minute to play against the visiting Utah Jazz. Then came the shoulder-shimmy.
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Hardaway dropped the dagger to go along with Kristaps Porzingis' hammer as the Knicks rebounded from a 12-point deficit to defeat the Jazz 106-101 on Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden.
Two days after squandering a 23-point lead to LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Knicks came back from a 12-point deficit against a Jazz squad missing its top post player in injured Rudy Gobert.
"We have veteran guys adding great leadership, staying positive, saying, 'Hey this is the game, you can't worry about that,' " Knicks coach Jeff Hornacek said. "Learn from it and grow. And the young guys are taking to that leadership."
Hardaway, who had 10 of his 26 points in the fourth quarter, hit a 3-pointer with 31 seconds left to stake New York a four-point lead, and Utah committed a turnover on the ensuing possession.
New York tied the score at 91 midway through the fourth quarter, the first tie since the one-minute, 21-second mark of the first quarter, and took a 94-93 lead on Hardaway layup minutes later.
"Tim is doing a great job for us," Hornacek said. "We need that activity, we need the cutting. He is one of the guys who can attack the basket for us. He's fast. He gets out on the break."
Rodney Hood had 30 points to lead Utah, which lost for the sixth time in their last seven games.
Jettisoned to the bench late last week in favor of rookie Donovan Mitchell, Hood has been consistent in his new sixth-man role, with at least 16 points and three 3-pointers in each of his last three games.
Wednesday marked a high-point in the season for the fourth-year pro, whose playing time and scoring both dipped last season.
"This one will sting a little bit," Hood said. "We played hard but sometimes it doesn't equate to wins. ... It was one of the better games we played in a while, we just need to put it together for 48 minutes."
Mitchell had a standout first half, leading all scorers with 17 points on 7-of-10 shooting and the Jazz damaged the Knicks from downtown.
Utah had 10 first-half 3-pointers, with four players contributing multiple threes, including three by Mitchell and Jonas Jerebko.
"I was so nervous," Mitchell said of playing in Madison Square Garden for the first time as a pro. "Usually after I score the first one, it's cool, even after a dunk especially. It was fun going out there and living the dream. It was amazing feeling. I'm happy the first one is out of the way and I can't wait until next year to come back."
Half of Utah's points in the first half -- and half of its field goals -- came from long range.
The game was tight early in the first quarter until Utah went on a 6-0 run with five minutes left to take a five-point lead. After the Knicks cut the lead to one midway through the second quarter, the Jazz extended their lead to as much as 12 before going into halftime up 10.
"The first half, we were reacting to what they were doing, instead of making them do what we wanted to. In the first half they got a lot of easy looks. It's not a challenged shot if you're three, four feet away from a guy who can shoot the ball. That does nothing to a shooter."
Porzingis had 22 points and Courtney Lee added 19 points for New York, which won for the eighth time in the last 11 games.
NOTES: Despite being eligible for his second straight game after missing 20 because of a performance-enhancing drug suspension, Knicks C Joakim Noah was held inactive as he faces a logjam at center. New York coach Jeff Hornacek has been pleased with the play of starter Enes Kanter and backup Kyle O'Quinn, and third-string option Willy Hernangomez has played scarcely this season. ... Utah C Rudy Gobert missed his third consecutive game with a bone bruise and is expected to be out until mid-December. ... The Knicks will travel to Toronto on Friday night for only their second road game of the month. ... Utah travels to nearby Brooklyn on Friday, the second contest of a four-game road trip.
