Kemba Walker became the seventh NBA player with a triple-double on Christmas, and the New York Knicks beat the depleted Atlanta Hawks 101-87 on Saturday for their first win on the holiday in a decade. Julius Randle had 25 points and 12 rebounds for the Knicks in a matchup of teams that met in the first round of last season’s playoffs. But the Hawks were missing Trae Young among nine players in the NBA’s health and safety protocols, so it wasn’t much of a rematch of Atlanta’s five-game victory. Walker finished with 10 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds. The 6ft guard raced around the floor trying desperately for his 10th rebound for much of the second half, finally getting it in the fourth quarter when Mitchell Robinson’s block came to him. It was the first triple-double on Christmas since Golden State’s Draymond Green in 2017, continuing Walker’s strong stretch since going from out of the rotation to back in the starting lineup when the Knicks were short-handed. Fans in the sold-out crowd chanted “Kemba Walker! Kemba Walker!” for the New York native, who scored 44 points in a loss to Washington on Thursday. Evan Fournier and Quentin Grimes each scored 15 points for the Knicks, who snapped a six-game Christmas skid. They are 23-31 in their league-high 54 appearances, but hadn’t won one since 2011. John Collins and Delon Wright each scored 20 points for the Hawks, who were playing on Christmas for the first time since 1989. They had their six-game road winning streak snapped. Young starred in his first playoff series last spring against New York, ignoring profane taunts by Knicks fans and getting the last word when he bowed to them near the close of Atlanta’s clinching Game 5 victory. But he couldn’t clear protocols in time for a coveted spot on the Christmas calendar. “Trae was really excited to have that opportunity to play and unfortunately with the situation won’t be able to do that,” Hawks coach Nate McMillan said before the game. “But we know he’ll be supporting, he’ll be watching.” The Hawks needed him to be playing. The Knicks made their first seven shots and raced to a 19-3 lead on Randle’s three-pointer with 7:48 left in the first quarter. The Hawks outplayed the Knicks for much of the remainder of the half but Fournier hit two three-pointers during his flurry of 10 straight Knicks points, increasing the lead to 61-51 at the break. The Knicks blew it open with a 14-4 spurt in the third that extended a six-point lead to 79-63. Consecutive three-pointers by Grimes and Taj Gibson to open the fourth gave New York its biggest lead at 87-66 and from there the only drama was whether Walker would get one more rebound. The Hawks’ injury report took three tweets from the team’s official account to list, and besides Young featured key players such as Kevin Huerter, Lou Williams and Danilo Gallinari. Clint Capela returned from protocols and had six points and nine rebounds. Meanwhile, the Knicks are getting healthier. Grimes made his first appearance since setting a Knicks rookie record with seven three-pointers and scoring 27 points against Milwaukee on 12 December. He was then placed into protocols and missed the last five games. Boston Celtics 113-117 Milwaukee Bucks Giannis Antetokounmpo returned from the NBA’s healthy and safety protocols to score 36 points on Saturday, but Wesley Matthews stole the spotlight when he knocked down a three-pointer with 30.3 seconds left to give the Milwaukee Bucks their first lead en route to a 117-113 win over the Boston Celtics. Seeing his first action since 12 December, Antetokounmpo played 30 minutes and connected on 13 of 23 shots while shooting 10 for 15 from the free-throw line. Milwaukee also got center Bobby Portis and guard Donte DiVincenzo back from Covid-19 protocols in time for the televised Christmas showdown. Boston had just eight players available after putting Dennis Schroder in the protocols earlier Saturday, but took control behind Jaylen Brown, who scored 14 of his 25 points in the opening quarter. Jayson Tatum also scored 25 for Boston, which led by as many as 19 and went into halftime with a 35-22 advantage. Milwaukee trimmed the deficit to one when Middleton knocked down a 3 with 3:39 left in the third. But the Celtics answered with five straight and opened the fourth with a 8-0 run, including six from Parker, who converted a three-point play to make it 102-90 with 10:15 to play. Portis’ put-back with eight minutes left was the start of the Bucks’ charge, tying the game at 111 when Antetokounmpo scored and drew a foul with 1:26 left. He missed the free throw and Brown made a pair on the other end to put Boston back in front. But Matthews buried his three for a 114-113 lead, and the Bucks held on. Portis finished with 16 points, while DiVincenzo, who hadn’t played since suffering a left foot injury in the playoffs last season, got his first and only points on a three-pointer late in the third quarter.