On the heels of a thrilling 105-95 win in New Jersey Saturday night; yes, the Nets are near the basement of the Eastern Conference in the standings but play much better in Newark than they do on the road and New York was without All-Star forward Amar’e Stoudemire; the Knicks followed up with a convincing 102-90 win over the playoff-bound Atlanta Hawks Wednesday, whom the Knickerbockers had lost to in each of their first two meetings this season. While sporting their throwback blue shorts and jerseys at the Garden, the Knicks resembled the teams of the 90’s by setting the tone immediately with a first quarter that was likely the best defensive twelve minutes New York had played all season as the high-powered Hawks shot just 33%. Perhaps most promising was what the Knicks seemed to have learned from having to play without Stoudemire on Saturday, which is that everyone must pick up their share of the slack if the Knicks are to put together a strong stretch run after the All-Star break and possibly make noise in the postseason.

Rookie Landry Fields was a jack of all trades as he continues to challenge the Clippers’ Blake Griffin for Rookie of the Year, as he scored 11 points, and contributed 9 rebounds, 5 assists, and 2 steals. Danilo Gallinari added 17 points and 9 boards, Wilson Chandler scored 20, point guard Raymond Felton was the straw that stirred the drink on both ends as he finished the night with 11 dimes and 2 steals, and Stoudemire stood tall and talented as usual, backing up his pre-game trash talk with Atlanta’s Al Horford, who grew visibly frustrated as the night wore on, as Amar’e aided the cause with 23 points, 7 rebounds, and 3 blocks. Mike D’Antoni and staff would have preferred to get more production out of the center position between rookie Timofey Mozgov and Ronny Turiaf, who combined for just 8 points and 7 rebounds, but if the Knickerbockers can play with the energy and cohesiveness that they displayed Wednesday night, with more consistent production from the guys down low, they will be very tough to beat down the stretch.