Hey look, it’s the New York Knicks, the team everybody loves to hate! Seriously, who likes the Knicks? Anyone?

They have a roster full of overpaid underachievers, many of whom have the least enjoyable personalities you can imagine. They spend money like it grows on trees and they own all the forests in the world. I mean, their roster is about $120 million… with $30 million of that going to players who no longer play for them (Jalen Rose, Jerome Williams, Maurice Taylor and Shandon Anderson). When you consider that that’s about $50 million over the luxury tax threshold, and that they are being penalized for every dollar they spend over that threshold… well, the total’s more like $170 million, isn’t it?

(By the way, the salary number for your Toronto Raptors? $51 million).

Anyway, the salary expenses don’t have much to do with what’s actually on the floor. The Knicks, as everyone knows, have improved since last year, though that in itself isn’t saying that much – they’re still five games under .500 and 5.5 back of Toronto in the Atlantic.

They do provide a matchup problem for Toronto, though. Eddy Curry is having a great offensive season and is bigger than anybody the Raps can offer. Nesterovic and Bosh, with maybe a little help from Humphries, will get the assignment on him; he’ll be able to bull his way to the basket most possessions.

The key will be how Toronto doubles and rotates. If they double down every time he gets the ball – which I suspect they will – they’ll need to rotate quickly, because Stephon Marbury, Jared Jeffries and Quentin Richardson (not to mention Steve Francis, off the bench) can all hit the shot and penetrate and kick.

Marbury will be a matchup nightmare for either TJ Ford or Jose Calderon; he’s bigger and stronger than both, and he can post them up or muscle past them for that short jumper, which he got again and again in the last meeting.

Of course, Curry and Marbury both killed the Raptors back in December (Curry had 27 and 12; Marbury took over and nearly won the game in the fourth), but the Raptors still won. That’s because Curry is useless on defense, and the rest of the starting lineup aren’t defensive first-teamers either. (Marbury can be a good defensive player when he puts the effort in, which isn’t often enough.)

The Knicks will be without sixth man and rebound monster David Lee, as well as Jamal Crawford, a Raptor killer who once dropped 50 on us. There’s also a chance Richardson won’t play, with back spasms. That can only help the Raptors.

The Raptors, of course, are also a much better team than they were in December. That Knicks game was the first one the Raptors went to their current starting lineup, and Andrea Bargnani was still working himself into the rotation. The team was 6-10 (and would lose four straight after beating NY) and still finding its identity.

So both teams are improved, and both are in playoff position. This is a key game, for both teams. But the bottom line is the Raptors are the better team and that should carry them to victory on their home court.

By the way… I hate the Knicks.