Knicks Heat Round One Playoff Preview

The 66 game regular season has come to an end.  The playoffs have finally arrived.  The Knicks are locked on to the 7th seed and will play the 2nd seeded Miami Heat in the first round.  Game one will be Saturday afternoon at 3:30 in Miami.  The Heat finished the season with a 46-20 record while the Knicks finished with a 36-30 record.  Miami dominated New York in the regular season winning all three games against them by an average of ten points.

The Heat are not the best matchup for the Knicks.  That is without a doubt, but the Carmelo Anthony led Knicks could make a series of this.  The Knicks have been playing good basketball finishing the season very hot.  With the exception of Jeremy Lin, who will most likely miss the entire first round, the Knicks are coming into the playoffs fairly healthy.  Amare Stoudemire is back and looked strong in the last couple of games of the season.  Tyson Chandler will be ready to go as he got to rest himself for a couple of games.

The key to this series will be the play of Amare Stoudemire.  Stoudemire needs to help Melo in the scoring department and needs to outplay Chris Bosh.  As soon as Amare went down in last years playoff with injury the series was a wrap.  The Knicks need to get the continued incredible play of Anthony as well as a strong series from Amare if they want any chance to make this a series.  Another huge factor in this series will be the defense of Iman Shumpert on Dwyane Wade.  We have seen the aggressive defense from the rookie Shumpert all season that has had many guards frustrated.  If Shumpert can contain Wade throughout the series and force LeBron James to carry this team, the Knicks will make this a long series.

The problem is that the Heat just have too much athleticism and talent for the Knicks.  LeBron James will most likely win an NBA MVP this season, Dwyane Wade has done it before in the playoffs and the Heat are looking to start the dynasty that they hoped for when signing the "big three" last season.

The Knicks will keep this a good series because of their improved depth and the strong shooters they have off the bench such as Steve Novak and J.R. Smith.  New York is going to have to get improved play from their backcourt and some big buckets by guys other than Stat and Melo.  The Knicks hope to revive Madison Square Garden and pull off the upset this series like they did against Miami 12 years ago.  Sunday afternoon the rivalry continues....

My Prediction: Heat in 6

Knicks Headed Back to Playoffs

With the Bucks loss Thursday night to the Pacers, the Knicks have officially clinched a playoff spot.  The Knicks will head back to the playoffs for their second straight year.  The Knicks have not made back to back playoff appearances since the 1999-2000 and 2000-2001 seasons.  From 1987-2001 the Knicks made the playoffs every season.  From 2001-2010 they made it just once, where they were swept by the Nets in 2004.

Clearly, it has been a long time since the Knicks have put together back to back playoff seasons.  Last year's playoffs showed that the Knicks needed some more pieces as they were swept away by the Celtics in the first round.  This year could be a huge improvement for the Knickerbockers as the team has some more depth and shooting, something they needed desperately last season.  Once Amare Stoudemire went down with injury in the playoffs, Carmelo Anthony had the ball every possession taking more shots than he should.

The Knicks will get Stoudemire back tonight against the Cavaliers and will have him ready for the playoffs this year.  The team has pieces this year that it lacked last season coming off the bench.  Steve Novak has been monumental in the Knicks success lately as he continuously knocks down clutch three pointer after clutch three pointer.  J.R. Smith has started to come alive of late and everyone knows when his game is on, he will make a lot of shots.  Rookie Iman Shumpert has done a tremendous job bringing energy and a defensive presence that will be key come playoff time.  Mike Bibby has also played a role of late starting in the absence of Baron Davis and playing well.

The Knicks clearly have much more depth and a bench presence than they had last season.  Melo is also playing the best basketball we have seen him play as a Knick and maybe his career.  The Knicks are really hoping that they fall into the hands of the Bulls and stay away from the Heat in the first round.  We have seen how competitive the Knicks have played with the Bulls and how remarkable of a series it could be.  It is guaranteed the Knicks will play one of the two in the first round.  We will find out in a week who it will be.  The Knicks are the one team that nobody at the top of the conference wants to play.  I can guarantee that this year's playoffs will be a much better one for the Knicks as the Garden will be rocking like it did back in 2000.

Melo Haters Silenced

Anyone who had anything bad to say about Carmelo Anthony was quickly silenced Sunday afternoon.

Anthony put on an unbelievable performance at Madison Square Garden in a playoff atmosphere against the Bulls, who have the best record in the Eastern Conference and the most wins in the NBA.  The Knicks beat the Bulls, 100-99 in overtime. Melo scored an astounding 43 points.  He showed integrity and determination down the stretch making clutch basket after clutch basket.  With 11 seconds left, Melo drained a long three pointer with the long arm of Taj Gibson right in his face.  The Garden erupted into a thunderous roar.  The Knicks seemed to be out of the game, but thanks to four missed free throws by Luol Deng and Derrick Rose, the Knicks stayed alive.  Melo's clutch three helped send the Knicks to overtime where he was not done yet.

Melo would make a driving layup with just over a minute to go in overtime to cut the Bulls lead to two.  With eight seconds left, Melo would make the Garden shake once again.  He drained another long three pointer with Deng's hand in his face to give the Knicks a 100-99 lead.  The Knicks would get a stop on defense and come out with the victory.

Anthony showed all his haters that he knows that it is his time.  The Knicks are playing without Jeremy Lin for the rest of the season and possibly without star Amare Stoudemire for the year.  Sunday was up there as one of the most magical performances ever seen at MSG.  The Knicks needed that game as the Bucks are creeping up behind them for the eight seed in the East.  It was a monumental win in a game that could be a playoff preview of the first round.  Anyone who had doubts about Melo has hopped on the bandwagon now and is on for the ride.

The Knicks clearly are the team that the Bulls and Heat do not want to play in May.  The Knicks are tied with the Sixers for the seven seed at the moment with the Bucks sitting just a game behind.  New York has ten games remaining and will play the Bulls once again on Tuesday night in Chicago.

Johan Shines, Mets Start Season With Shutout

April has arrived and baseball season is back.  Johan Santana took the mound against the Braves on a beautiful Thursday afternoon at Citi Field.  Santana made his first start since 2010 and he looked like he had not missed a step.  Santana went five strong innings giving up no runs, two hits, and striking out five.  David Wright hit an RBI single in the sixth to drive in the Mets only run.  That would be enough to beat the Braves, 1-0.

The Mets bullpen did something that they had trouble doing all of last season.  The bullpen held the one run lead throwing four shutout innings.  Ramon Ramirez, acquired from the Giants, threw two scoreless innings.  Jon Rauch also made his Mets debut throwing a scoreless inning.  New closer, Frank Francisco, threw a perfect ninth inning and the Mets started the season with an impressive victory.  The Mets have won 33 of their last 43 Opening Day games after losing their first eight.

Andres Torres left the game in the seventh after trying to run down a ball in center field.  Torres is headed to the disabled list with a left calf strain.  The Mets have brought up Kirk Nieuwenhuis to replace him in centerfield.  Terry Collins is expected to platoon Nieuwenhuis with Scott Hairston, who replaced Torres yesterday.

Citi Field finally felt like home for the first time since it has opened.  The walls are now blue and it finally has more of a feel as the Mets home ballpark.  The 42 thousand plus fans left the ballpark feeling good with Let's Go Mets chants breaking out along the concourses.  It marked my tenth straight Opening Day and it was one of the more memorable ones as it is the Mets 50th anniversary.  The Mets honored the late Gary Carter before the game and unveiled a sign on the left center field wall in honor of "The Kid." The Mets continue the series with the Braves Saturday afternoon at Citi Field as R.A. Dickey takes on Jair Jurrjens.