Knicks vs Heat NBA Handicapping
It doesn’t have to be a standing O. You can remain seated, at least until his Knicks win a few playoff series. But doesn’t Mike Woodson deserve at least a polite golf-crowd round of applause for what he’s done with the Knicks this season?
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New York Knicks (46-26) at Miami Heat (58-15)
Tuesday, April 2
American Airlines Arena, Miami
8 p.m. EST
Spread – Heat -7.5
O/U – 196.5
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Since Woodson took over for Mike D’Antoni as head coach a little more than a year ago, the former coach of the underachieving Hawks has guided New York to 64 wins and 32 losses, literally winning twice for each time it has lost.
Woodson has shrugged off injuries and off-court drama through the last 12 months and now has the Knicks positioned as perhaps the one team that has enough talent to give the Miami Heat some trouble in what would be an interesting Eastern Conference finals series.
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With the Heat going down last week in Chicago, ending their long winning streak, Woodson’s Knicks now own the longest winning streak in the NBA.
They have eight in a row after a knee injury to Carmelo Anthony helped spawn a 4-game West Coast losing streak, and if they get No. 9 tonight in Miami, it will certainly open more than a few eyes as we look ahead to the playoffs.
Anthony is obviously the straw that stirs the drink, and teams without superstars tend to flame out early in the playoffs.
But even with NY’s second-biggest gun, Amare Stoudemire, out indefinitely after undergoing knee surgery a few weeks ago, Woodson has been able to mix and match enough to keep his team even with Indiana as they jostle for the second seed in the East. [ad-6571516]
Ray Felton, who missed 12 games due to injury early in the season, is playing as well as any point guard in the conference these days, although his assist totals will never be high because so much of the half-court offense runs through Anthony.
J.R. Smith seems to win a game a week with a huge performance, and in a recent stretch has 32 points (Boston), 35 (Memphis) and 37 (Charlotte).
With, uh, high-maintenance players such as Anthony, Smith and newcomer Kenyon martin to deal with, Woodson would seem to have his hands full. But outside of Anthony’s verbal spat with Kevin Garnett a few months ago, Melo has behaved himself. And there’s not been much from Smith or Martin as winning keeps tempers from flaring.
Come playoffs, though, who knows? But for now at least Woodson has the team’s respect and attention with a few weeks left before the games really count.
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The Knicks are one of the few teams that seem to be able to hang with the Heat. The sample is small (2-1), but NY does own a blowout win in Miami playing sans Anthony. Miami can cruise to the overall No. 1 seed (the Heat are 3.5 games ahead of the Spurs), while the Knicks have unfinished business with the Pacers.
Knicks should cover this one, but avoid a money line play against a Miami team that is 32-3 at home this season.
