Having won seven of their last eight games, the New York Knicks (10-9) take to the road tonight to test themselves against one of the NBA's better teams, The 13-5 New Orleans Hornets.
The Hornets are, of course, led by Chris Paul -- whom many have speculated could be on the Knicks' radar when he becomes a free agent prior to the 2012 season. Paul expressed admiration for how well the Knicks have played lately.
"It's going to be a tough game," Paul said. "I'm a huge fan of Coach D'Antoni's, and he really has those guys going right now. And any time you have a personality like Amar'e [Stoudemire] on your team and Raymond [Felton] running your show, you're going to be tough."
The Knicks are playing much better than they were a couple of weeks ago when their record sat at 3-8. But,
they still have work to do.
"Any kind of step forward, we'll take," Knicks head coach Mike D'Antoni said. "We're 10-9. That's reality. We are playing better and we all know we could be better."
The Hornets started 11-1, but have cooled recently. Paul averages 16.1 points, 10.5 assists and 3.0 steals per game. David West leads the Hornets in scoring at 18.8 points per game.
Stoudemire leads the Knicks at 24.1 points and 8.6 rebounds per game. Felton is scoring 18.2 points and dishing out 8.1 assists per game.