ATLANTA – If Marcus Camby really had a crystal ball, this would not have been the game to bring it out. Somebody would have dropped it.

But the all-knowing, all-seeing, third-year reserve forward saw tomorrow as long as two days ago, when he predicted last night’s fourth-quarter flying dunk over Dikembe Mutombo. The Hawk center, who converses in seven languages and dialects, was left speechless, along with all the Knicks, who will know next time which teammate to take to the racetrack.

“Marcus was like Nostradamus,” Chris Childs said. “He called it.”

The last guy to do that was Babe Ruth, a popular guy in New York just like Charles Oakley, who was traded away for Camby.

As Camby has come on, Oakley has become yesterday’s news, just another pretty face on cable television who once had the ignominy of playing on the first Knick unit. Then and now, it couldn’t handle the second unit that enabled the Knicks to survive an eyesore of a game, 77-70, last night and take a 2-0 lead in the Eastern Conference semifinals.

“The second unit wins without a doubt,” Camby smiled. “That’s why [the starters] don’t want to play us anymore. Sometimes Jeff stops it and punishes us.”

Not as badly as the Hawks were last night by the Knick reserves. Latrell Sprewell had 31 points. Camby chipped in 11, hitting 5-of-7 from the field, had 13 rebounds.