NEW YORK (NBA.com exclusive) --  Al Horford saw former Florida teammate David Lee out at a steak house in New York City on Tuesday night.

And then he did everything but steal Lee's lunch money on Wednesday at Madison Square Garden.

The 6-foot-10, 245-pound Horford outmuscled and outplayed Lee in the paint en route to a game-high 25 points, nine rebounds and two blocks as visiting Atlanta handed New York its fifth straight loss, 114-101, before 19,699.

The 6-foot-9, 250-pound Lee simply couldn't guard Horford in the paint, and finished with nine points and seven boards.

"[Horford] just muscled us in," said Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni. "He's good. He got to the hole. We didn't foul hard enough. He and Josh Smith had at least two or three three-point plays that we needed to have a little bit more resistance."

After the Knicks led by as many as 14 points before the break, Atlanta (6-2) outscored them 67-45 in the second half, getting 21 points from Horford and 11 from the 6-foot-9 Smith, who finished with 22 points and 12 boards.

Mike Bibby and Joe Johnson added 19 points apiece for the Hawks, with Johnson, the reigning NBA Player of the Week, scoring 12 points in the decisive second half. Maurice Evans scored 12 off the bench, and former Knick Jamal Crawford had 11.

After managing just four points in the first half on 2-for-8 shooting, Horford took over in the third quarter, scoring 14 points on a variety of drives and dunks. He went 4-for-5 in the quarter and made 6 of 7 from the stripe as Atlanta outscored New York, 37-23.

After trailing by seven at the break (54-47), the Hawks rattled off 12 unanswered points to turn a 71-66 deficit into an 84-77 lead after three.

"We played a bad first half and coach [Mike Woodson] said we have to keep defending and rebounding so that's what I did and I just got the opportunities in the third quarter," Horford said.

In the fourth quarter, Horford flushed a wide-open dunk that put Atlanta up by 10.

That play was amplified minutes later when New York's Al Harrington (23 points, 12 rebounds) missed a wide-open dunk on the other end, triggering angry boos and sending some fans to the exits.

"We kept going to [Horford] and I thought he just made play after play that really gave us the spurt that we needed to regain the lead," Woodson said.

The Knicks entered as the league's fourth-worst defensive team, giving up 108.4 points per game. They have now yielded 100 or more points in eight of their nine games.

D'Antoni gave rookie Toney Douglas his first career NBA start and Douglas made the most of the opportunity.

The 6-foot-2 rookie out of Florida State notched his career-high for the second straight game by scoring 23 points on 10-of-19 shooting.

"For a point guard he's going to have to grow a lot," D'Antoni said. "He's playing with a lot of enthusiasm."

Douglas was coming off a career-high 21 points in Monday's 95-93 loss to Utah, but missed a potential game-tying nine-foot jumper at the buzzer.

While Douglas was a bright spot, point guard Chris Duhon continued to play poorly and had a dreadful stat line: 0 points on 0-for-6 shooting, three turnovers, three rebounds, two assists.

"He's going to have to play better and hopefully he'll do it," D'Antoni said.

Asked if Duhon might lose his starting job, the coach said, "We'll see, I don't know yet."

Crawford said before the game that the Knicks would have made the playoffs last season had he not been traded to clear salary cap space.

"Yes, we would've made the playoffs last year. I think 37, 38 wins is the playoffs last year. We would've got there," Crawford said.

The Knicks finished 32-50 and haven't made the playoffs since the 2003-04 season.

Crawford was traded Nov. 18 to Golden State for Harrington and subsequently dealt to Atlanta in a draft-day deal.

"It was the best start in the last 10 years for the Knicks," he said of last year's 6-3 start. "My only regret was that I was here through the roughest times. I just wanted to be here when things turned around. And that was the thing that bothered me the most."

No current NBA player has gone longer without appearing in the postseason than Crawford, who has averaged 15.2 points in 604 games over his 10-year career.

But with a young core led by Horford, Bibby and Smith, Crawford hopes to end that streak this year.

"Hopefully, God willing and everybody stays healthy we'll get a chance this year," he said.

The Knicks?

Probably not.