Do NOT adjust your HDTV sets!

The Atlanta Hawks and New York Knickerbockers should be wearing sane pairings of unis today at Madison Square Garden (7:30 PM Eastern, SportSouth, MSG Network). Countless Knicks fans have had to report themselves out for a couple weeks with eye strains, not just because of the garish red-and-orange combo on the floor, but because the Knicks’ shooting woes has become far too hard on the eyes.

Atlanta returns to the scene of the crime where they ran New York off the floor of the World’s Most Famous Hype Center last month, a 110-90 drubbing. While Al Horford was salvaging an overtime victory here against the Wizards last night, the Knicks were up in Boston shooting just 40% from the field and 5-for-21 from three-point range against their division-leading Celtics.

At least half of the 6-16 Knicks club is playing with one eye on the basket and the other over their shoulders, anxiously anticipating the big Apollo stage hook from their owner. “Mr. Stone Cold Lock,” James Dolan is in search of a 2014 draft pick and willing to hold a fire sale to get one. To improve themselves in the next four Junes, all New York currently has to avail themselves of is a 2015 and 2017 first-rounder. So somebody has to go, soon. With free agent acquisitions becoming available for the trading blocks tomorrow, tonight could conceivably be the home finale for players wearing the New York jerseys.

Head Coach Mike Woodson’s gotten votes of confidence from players and management alike, but you know how that goes. Woody’s degree-of-difficulty may go up even further now that he will have to win games without starting point guard Raymond Felton, who’s now out at least two weeks with a hamstring strain. The way Ray had been playing, though (especially on defense) things may actually ease up for Woody, particularly if fan favorite Pablo Prigioni and the oft-struggling Iman Shumpert can get it going.

In Beantown last night, Prigioni and Shumpert started and combined to shoot 2-for-14 for 8 points. But Pablo passed like a Picasso, with 8 assists and no turnovers as New York climbed out of a 17-point hole and into a fourth quarter lead before things fell completely apart. Shumpert’s defense helped slow reigning Player of the Week Jordan Crawford (0-for-8) and his backcourt mate Avery Bradley (5-for-12) into poor shooting stretches.

The Curious Case of J.R. Smith continued last night, as the 34.2% shooter tried his hand at passing instead, which might have been a great strategy had his head coach and teammates known about it in advance. He took one field goal, a badly missed three-pointer, in 26 minutes, and tallied just 3 assists (tied for his season-high, lol), probably because teammates had no idea the ball was coming their way. Throw in Beno Udrih and Tim Hardaway, Jr., and Knicks guards combined for a 3-for-20 evening. Unless Carmelo Anthony plans to go for 70 by himself, that has to change if New York intends to win.

Anthony will probably have to play at the PF spot all night long, minimizing his ability to create mismatches at small forward. Amar’e Stoudemire had a season-high 18 points on 7-for-9 shooting and had averaged 15-and-5 on 72.1 FG%, with 1.2 blocks in his past 5 games. But Woodson is trying to rest him on the second night of back-to-back games. Kenyon Martin (4-for-5 on Friday night; 7.0 RPG, 2.0 BPG, and 3.0 SPG in his last two games) has accorded himself well of late, too. But he strained his six-minute abs in yesterday’s contest and is not likely to contribute tonight, either. And of course, Tyson Chandler won’t be available for awhile. That means Woody will have to rely on Anthony at the four alongside center Andrea Bargnani, with maybe an extra heaping of minutes allocated to Cole Aldrich. Despite a career-high 9.4 RPG, Melo will be relied upon for defense and rebounding tonight much more than Woody would probably like.

Against the Knicks’ thinned frontline, this will be a good game to help double-double machine Paul Millsap get his shooting efficiency back up and force Anthony to play the full court. He’s shot just 11-for-35 in his past two games, but continues to contribute across the board with five double-doubles in his last six games, missing a sixth double-double by just a single rebound. Paul has also turned the ball over just five times in his last five games while averaging 4.2 APG. Metta World Peace may be pushed into the power forward spot for help, potentially freeing up swingmen bombers Kyle Korver and Cartier Martin.

Last time at MSG, Jeff Teague left the passing duties to Shelvin Mack (12 assists, one turnover) and led eight Hawks in double-figure scoring with 16 points. He’ll be hounded by Prigioni and Shump to minimize drives, but when they and Smith slack off to help on the interior, he may be open for some spot-up jumpers that could similarly boost his shooting efficiency (25.9 3FG%; 40.5 FG%). Jeff hasn’t gotten into double-digit assist land in the last nine games but has still offered up a steady diet of dimes (at least five in each of the last nine) while letting Mack and Lou Williams get into the act.

Go Hawks!

~lw3