by Marcel Mutoni / @marcel_mutoni
The last time the Knicks and Hawks faced off, tempers flared, and punches were thrown. Amar’e Stoudemire wasn’t involved in the fracas, but he left the game angry with the loss and Al Horford’s antics.
Amar’e is still fired up about Horford, and plans to send a message to Al and the Hawks tonight in New York.
Newsday reports:
“I said it before, he don’t want to see me, man,” Stoudemire said. “I watched him play in Florida [in college] and I’ve seen him play a few years in Atlanta. We have two different games. We’ll see after [tonight] … It’s going to be a very intense game,” he said. “After what happened in Atlanta, we feel we could have played better . . . [tonight’s] going to be a very important game for us.” The Stoudemire-Horford feud didn’t really develop until after that game in Atlanta, when Stoudemire said Horford “needs to calm down. He’s not that type of player. He don’t want to see me any night, so he might as well relax and calm down.”
Later that night on his Twitter account, Horford wrote, “Great win over The knicks tonight. Everyone came out an did their part. And YES! I am that kind of player, who does what he needs to win…” Stoudemire Tuesday said Horford may have felt good about what he was doing in the game in Atlanta but seemed to suggest things will be different at the Garden when he said, “Welcome to New York.”
Right. So, tonight should be a fun little matchup at MSG.
The biggest concern regarding STAT isn’t his personal beef with Al Horford, it has to do with the health of his sprained right big toe. It remains to be seen if Stoudemire will be healthy enough to take part in this weekend’s All-Star game.
