"He don’t want to see me. I watched him play in Florida, and I’ve seen him play a few years in Atlanta. We’ve got two different games, and we’ll see how it plays out tomorrow." Amare Stoudamire talking about Hawks All-Star Center Al Horford.
While Amare is an excellent basketball player, toughness has never been his calling card. While he is clearly trying to fire up his teammates with his comments this is the same guy that was described in "Seven Seconds or Less" as checking out on his team by not going to rehab for his injured knee and otherwise becoming a distraction for 2005-06 Suns.
Perhaps all of this extra attention can be the sort of thing to give Atlanta a kick start. The last game before the All-Star break can sometimes be an obstacle in itself. I am sure Hawks coach Larry Drew appreciates Stoudemire giving his Atlanta team an incentive to focus in.
Interesting that neither Horford or Stoudemire were involved in the fight between Marvin Williams and Shawne Williams during the last match up. Both Marvin and Shawne say that their incident was an isolated case and that they have moved on from it.
Still this match up on the surface promises to have a little more energy and build up surrounding it than your ordinary run of the mill Wednesday night Hawks game.