New  York, NY  (SportsNetwork.com) - Tim Hardaway Jr. scored 20 points to lead 
the New York Knicks to a 100-89 win over the Chicago Bulls on Sunday. 

New  York was  officially  eliminated from  playoff  contention Saturday  when 
Atlanta  clinched  the No. 8  seed in the Eastern  Conference with a 98-85 win 
over Miami. 

"We  didn't  get it  done and  being the coach,  I just  apologize to the fans 
because  they paid  their hard-earned money to  come see us play and we didn't 
come into this season expecting this," Knicks head coach Mike Woodson said. 

Carmelo  Anthony and J.R. Smith each netted 17 points for the Knicks, who have 
won five of their last seven. 

It's a case of too little, too late for New York, while Chicago remains in the 
hunt  for the  East's third spot. With  the loss, Chicago falls into a tie for 
the No. 3 seed with Toronto. 

Chicago  hosts Orlando on Monday and travels to Charlotte on Wednesday to wrap 
up  its  season. Toronto, meanwhile, hosts  Milwaukee on Monday and will visit 
New York on Wednesday. 

The Raptors own the tiebreaker because they are a division champion. 

Jimmy Butler paced Chicago with 17 points, while Joakim Noah nearly registered 
another  triple-double. Noah  finished with  13 points,  17 rebounds  and nine 
assists in the setback, which snapped a seven-game winning streak. 

"We  let  a big  game slip  tonight. It was  probably the  biggest game of the 
season," Noah said. 

Chicago  led 22-19  after the first quarter,  with the Bulls holding a lead as 
many as four. 

Chicago was in front by three, 39-36, with 3:11 remaining in the second and it 
didn't score the rest of the half. 

Iman  Shumpert slammed one home to jumpstart a 9-0 quarter-ending run and help 
the Knicks to a 45-39 lead at the break. 

Smith  hit three straight  3-pointers as part of a 12-2 run early in the third 
to  give  the Knicks a 60-46  advantage. New York led  by as many as 17 in the 
period and brought a 77-64 advantage into the fourth. 

The Bulls trailed by 17 again in the fourth when D.J. Augustin hit three free 
throws  and followed with a 3-pointer to cap an 8-0 run and cut the deficit to 
single digits. 

Taj Gibson's three-point play made it a six-point game, 93-87, with just under 
four  minutes left  in the game. That's  as close as the visitors would get as 
Hardaway  Jr.  drained two pairs  of free throws around  a Butler foul shot to 
push the spread back to nine with 49.6 seconds left. 

                                   Game Notes 

Noah  has  four triple-doubles  this season,  one shy for  most in the league. 
Lance  Stephenson of  Indiana had  his fifth  triple-double of  the season  on 
Sunday  ...  New  York  shot  37-for-81 (45.7  percent)  from  the  field  and 
held  the defensive-minded Bulls to 29-of-74 (39.2 percent) attempts from the 
floor  ... There were  11 lead changes and eight ties ... The Knicks scored 21 
points off of 16 Chicago turnovers.