As if his one scene wasn’t intimidating enough, Alec Baldwin’s unnamed character from “Glengarry Glen Ross” would certainly leave his mark on the New York Knicks if he could address them.

Baldwin told his listeners to “Always be around,” but the Knicks didn’t heed that advice in the second half of a four-game road trip: After picking up wins in Miami and Detroit, the Knicks flopped in the fourth against Houston and Atlanta. The latest loss came Wednesday, when New York let the host Hawks make a decision 121-116.

“We have to close better,” coach Tom Thibodeau said after the game. (h/t New York Basketbaall in X). We have to defend and we have to rebound and we have to keep our turnovers down. “If we do those three things, you’re in a position to win.”

On paper, the Knicks’ 32-27 fourth-quarter loss to the Hawks doesn’t seem so bad. But Atlanta closed the game with a 16-6 run in the final 2:12 to seal the deal. New York had built a five-point lead with three minutes left after a Karl-Anthony Towns 3-pointer, but allowed Atlanta to score 13 points before scoring another from the field. By then, the Falcons The lead had expanded to seven and the offensive’s final efforts only served to embellish the deficit.

Wednesday served as deja vu in the worst possible way for the Knicks (3-4), who have lost consecutive games for the first time this season. The loss came two nights after the Houston Rockets outscored them by six in the last dozen. en route to a 109-97 victory. While the Knicks never led in that final period, they cut a late deficit to just one before Houston scored 18 of its 25 points earned in the final five minutes.

Entering Thursday, the Knicks have averaged 25.4 fourth-quarter points so far this season, which ranks them last in the NBA, ahead of only developmental teams San Antonio and Detroit. New York is also allowing 28.6 points in the quarter, more than two points ahead of last year’s tally (26.2, which was the third-best mark in the NBA).

“We have to find a way,” said Josh Hart, according to Stefan Bondy of the New York Post. “Houston, it was a winnable game at the end of the game. This game (was) obviously very winnable at the end of the game. We have to be able to beat teams at the end of close games.”

The Knicks’ next chance to do so will be Friday night, when they briefly return to Madison Square Garden to face the Milwaukee Bucks (7:30 p.m. ET, MSG).

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