Knicks vs. Hawks 7:30 p.m. (Amar'e vs. Horford?)

The last game before All-Star Weekend is just ten minutes away.

Round 1

The Hawks have simply had the Knicks' number this season. They bested the Knicks 111-102 in January (the night of Williams vs. Williams)  and 99-90 in November.

I attended the latter. It was embarrassing, the Knicks fell down 10 after one and 18 at the half. It was one of those games where the Hawks were clearly coasting when the Knicks had their "near-comeback." The final score was closer than the game actually was.

It's interesting, for some reason the Hawks don't trigger fright, but they have made the Knicks look plain bad in two consecutive games.

At first glance I think it's easy to forget that Jamal Crawford looms on the bench.

As per basketball-reference.com statistics, Crawford has scored 50 points three times, for three different teams (including the Knicks). He also has 24 career 4-point plays, the most in NBA history. Did I mention he comes off their bench?

We've all seen today's back-and-forth between the two All-Stars, Amar'e Stoudemire and Al Horford, but here's a recap:

"He don't want to see me," says Amar'e.

"I don't understand what he means by that, 'he don't want to see me,'" Horford responds, "Like we're supposed to be scared of [Stoudemire]. Ain't nobody scared of him."

"You don't want to see me"

"I don't understand"

Personally, I'm excited that there is a little bit of tension going into this game. The Knicks need to play like they are a solid playoff team, and getting consistent wins, or at least playing well against other playoff teams is a good way to start.

Hopefully, Amar'e is just trying to incite the team into playing with some fire.

And hopefully his plan (my plan until Amar'e admits it's what he was trying to do) will work.