Miami Heat look to make it 2-0 against the New York Knicks on Monday night .....
3 quarters – that was all what LeBron James required to scorch Carmelo Anthony and his New York Knicks in the game-1 of the first round of Eastern Conference Playoffs on Saturday night.
And come Monday, the ‘King’ and the Miami Heat will be rearing to have a go again.
LeBron erupted with 32 points in first matchup of the series, sending the Knicks crashing to the worst defeat in the playoffs series opener since the San Antonio Spurs ran riot on the Sacramento Kings, 122-88, in 2006.
Not only that, but James also ensured that Anthony remained under immense pressure. Such was the cover that LeBron provided on the Knicks ace that he missed all seven off his first quarter shots enroute to a pathetic 3-for-15 effort for the night.
James however knows that Carmelo will bounce back and when that happens, he has vowed to be ready;
"That's what great players do. They make adjustments and come in for Game 2 and be better," James said. "We understand that. We know that as a team that it starts with him. He's the head of their snake. He wants to play well. He has to play better than he played yesterday. We know that. But we'll be in tune with our game plan."
Carmelo on his part has to get his act together. Within Jeremy Lin on the sidelines and Amare’ Stoudemire only a shadow of what he once was, Mike Woodson runs his offense through Anthony and it’s about time, the star forward starts to deliver consistently.
For starters, it’s his shooting that needs urgent attention;
"It's just something that I have to figure out," Anthony said.
The mismatch between LeBron and Anthony however, is only one dimension of the quagmire the Knicks currently find themselves in.
When the series started, many analysts believed that the defense of Iman Shumpert will go a long way in neutralizing the threat that Dwyane Wade poses from the wings and for parts of game-1, the analysis seemed to be spot on.
But then, Shumpert broke down and as of now, we know that he will be out for at least 6 months. With Jeremy Lin not expected to return before the game-4, Shumpert’s injury leaves a big hole in the Knicks backcourt and in effect puts the entire burden on Baron Davis, who has already got a sore back.
The Knicks issues don’t finish there. The romance between Chandler and flu has not ended yet and although the Knicks big did take part in the game-1, chances are that Woodson might rest him on Monday. That will mean that the Knicks lose the size advantage they have over the Heat.
With all the troubles New York are having at the moment, they cannot be ruled out to put up a stronger show in game-2. Saturday was just one game and Miami know better than anyone that a series is not over after that. It was only last year, when after being blown away by 21 points in the game-1 of the Eastern Conference Finals, Heat romped back to take the next four and make their way into the NBA Finals.
"We're smart enough to know that they're a better team than that," Heat forward Udonis Haslem who hauled down 8 rebounds in game-1 said. "And we understand that they're going to play a lot better (Monday) and it's going to be a tough game."
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