NBA Handicapping Predictions – Heat vs Knicks
Madison Square Garden will host Game Three of the Heat vs. Knicks First Round NBA Playoff series Thursday night. The Knicks were thrashed in Game One, and the big news after Game Two in Miami was Amar’e Stoudemire’s bad move after the game.
NBA Basketball Matchup: #2 Miami Heat (2-0) vs. #7 New York Knicks (0-2)
7:00 PM EST on TNT
NBA Gambling Odds from Bovada
NBA Betting Favorite: Heat -5
Over/Under: 186.5
If the Knicks are serious about making this a competitive series, they have to win this one.
Miami has just been far too much for the Knicks to handle in the first two games of this series. The Heat have gotten extremely efficient performances from Dwyane Wade and LeBron James in the first two contests.
Miami has beaten New York all five times they have met this year, so it seems this isn’t as tough a matchup for the Heat as some seemed to think it would be. Shane Battier has really helped the Heat by giving them a lockdown defender. Udonis Haslem and Joel Anthony work well in the post. Miami is at its best when it is playing terrific defense. So far the Heat have done a great job taking Carmelo Anthony out of his game. [soliloquy id=”82219″]
Amar’e Stoudemire will miss this game, and he might miss the rest of the series after his ridiculous post-game incident.
The New York Daily News read “Glasshole” after Stoudemire suffered a severe cut from hitting the glass case around a fire extinguisher after the team’s Game Two loss. Jeremy Lin is practicing again, but he isn’t expected to play in this game. Carmelo Anthony is shooting just 36.6% from the floor in this series.
Anthony has to be more efficient if the Knicks are going to get back in this one. The Knicks have 37 turnovers through the first two games. They must take better care of the basketball in this game.
The Knicks don’t seem to have anything going for them right now. This team has had all kinds of drama all season long, and I just don’t think they have a run in them at this point.
Look for Miami to take full control of the series with a nice win here.
Prediction: Miami 102 New York 91
