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

Baldwin told his listeners to “Always Be Closing,” but the Knicks failed to heed that advice in the second half of a four-game road trip: After picking up wins in Miami and Detroit, the Knicks failed to fourth against Houston and Atlanta. The last loss came on Wednesday when New York dropped the Hawks take a 121-116 decision.

“We’ve got to close better,” head coach Tom Thibodeau remarked afterward (f/t New York Basketballll on 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 look so bad. But Atlanta closed the game with a 16-6 run over the final 2:12 to seal the deal. New York built a five-point lead with three minutes left on a three-pointer from Karl-Anthony Towns, but allowed Atlanta to score 13 points before hitting another one from the field. Until then, the hawks the lead had stretched to seven and last-minute efforts from the offense only served to embellish the deficit.

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

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

“We have to find a way,” said Josh Hart, by 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 put teams away at the end of close games.”

The Knicks’ next opportunity to do so comes 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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