(Photo credit: Brett Davis-Imagn Images)

The New York Knicks spent much of December offering evidence they are serious contenders to win their first NBA title in more than 50 years.

The last day of the month (and the year) served as a reminder the Knicks are still a work in progress.

The Knicks will look to bounce back from a rare fourth-quarter stumble on Friday night when they host the Atlanta Hawks in a battle of Eastern Conference rivals.

Both teams were off Thursday after playing on New Year's Eve, when the visiting Knicks squandered a 19-point lead in a 134-132 loss to the San Antonio Spurs and the host Hawks snapped a seven-game losing streak with a 126-102 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves

The Knicks opened their biggest lead in the second quarter and briefly fell behind in the third before carrying a 102-93 advantage into the fourth. The Spurs lost superstar center Victor Wembanyama to a hyperextended left knee just 1:28 into the final period, yet outscored New York 38-30 the rest of the way.

The comeback dropped the Knicks to 19-1 this season when leading entering the fourth quarter and provided the Spurs a bit of revenge for their loss in the NBA Cup final on Dec. 16, when New York beat the Spurs 124-113.

The NBA Cup win, which didn't count in the official standings, highlighted a strong December for the Knicks, whose 11-4 month included a season-long seven-game winning streak.

Nonetheless, New York has allowed at least 125 points in four straight games and five times in the last six. The Knicks, who are second in the Eastern Conference with a 23-10 record, are giving up an average of 114.6 points per game. The franchise hasn't surrendered so many since the 1979-80 team allowed 115.1 points per game.

'I don't know if we're tired or what -- we haven't been able to sustain anything defensively for 48 minutes,' Knicks coach Mike Brown said. 'And we've won a lot of games and you want to win games and feel good about it. But at the end of the day, if we don't figure out how we're going to sustain what we're supposed to do on defense for 48 minutes, it's going to be a long year for us and it's going to catch up with us.'

Defensive issues also have dogged the Hawks, who have given up at least 125 points 11 times in the last 17 games. They've gone 5-12 in that span - including a 128-125 loss to the Knicks on Saturday -- to fall into 10th place in the Eastern Conference. Atlanta surrendered at least 126 points in each game during its losing streak that began Dec. 18.

Overall this season, the Hawks are surrendering 120.1 points per game this season, the seventh-most in the league.

But the Hawks looked improved on both ends of the floor despite not fielding an optimal lineup Wednesday, when Kristaps Porzingis returned from a 10-game absence attributed to illness and Jalen Johnson came back after missing Monday's 140-129 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder with an illness. Trae Young remained sidelined with a quad injury.

Johnson (34) and Porzingis (16) combined for 50 points Wednesday for the Hawks, who led wire-to-wire while limiting Minnesota to 42.5% shooting. The Timberwolves entered the game 9-4 in December and fresh off one of their most prolific nights of the month on Monday, when they routed the Chicago Bulls 136-101.

'If we continue to do these things, we'll be competitive,' Hawks head coach Quin Snyder said. 'It's about embracing the process and making these details habits, not just what we did on a given night.'

--Field Level Media