Amar'e, Carmelo blend beautifully in rout

All the pressure was off Tuesday night. For the first time in 77 games, it didn't really matter whether the Knicks won or lost. They didn't need to bring their 'A' game; they didn't even really need to bring their 'A' team.

You wouldn't have known that, however, from the way the Knicks jumped all over the Raptors en route to a 131-118 win, their fourth in a row.

The game was decided before many fans had taken off their raincoats and settled into their seats. The Knicks ran off the first 13 points during the most dominant four minutes of basketball seen in Madison Square Garden in quite some time.

It wasn't only the points that were impressive. It was how the Knicks were getting them. Amar'e Stoudemire and Carmelo Anthony, the superstars who don't always look so super together, came out with a determination that has to scare those playoff teams at the top of the Eastern Conference.

In the first four minutes, Stoudemire stole the ball, knocked down a 16-footer and made a perfect assist to Anthony, who was unguarded on the perimeter. Anthony made a steal and hit back-to-back three-pointers.

The Knicks' two most important players were saying they wanted to have a big night, which is exactly what Mike D'Antoni hoped to see.

He had talked about resting Stoudemire and other players some in the six games before the playoffs, but what his team needed most was to keep coming together as a group. It was the 23rd game as teammates for Stoudemire and Anthony, and D'Antoni is starting to feel better about the chemistry they have with each other.

"I think it's good, better than it was two weeks ago," D'Antoni said before the game. "Is this the best that it'll be? I hope not. But I think it's good."

Stoudemire had 23 points, six rebounds and five assists. Anthony, who was 5-for-6 on threes in the first half, had 23 points and nine rebounds.

"I think we're just starting to play off each other and find our spots," Anthony said of playing with Stoudemire. "As of late, we've been really going well in the pick and rolls and me finding him. I'm getting a better feel as each day goes by where he likes the ball and what he likes to do."

D'Antoni and team president Donnie Walsh have said these final games are about getting the team playoff ready. Its positioning really doesn't matter, because the race at the top of the East is so tight that it's too hard to predict where the Knicks want to finish to get the most favorable opponent. Or even know who that opponent is.

One thing is for sure, however. The Knicks are the team at the bottom of the bracket that one seems to want.

Said Stoudemire: "If we keep playing the way we have been offensively, we're going to be incredibly hard to beat."