NBA Playoffs Preview 2012: New York Knicks host Miami Heat for Game 3 at the Madison Square Garden
Game 3 of the series will see the New York Knicks play hosts to the Miami Heat at the Madison Square Garden on Thursday night. Many who predicted the Knicks to offer some resistance to the Heat, some of them will be reconsidering their opinions while some optimists may still be hoping for a comeback.
Miami have gotten their post season campaign off and running by racing to a 2-0 lead in the series, thrashing the Knicks by a margin of 33 points in Game 1 and recorded a 10 points lead in Game 2.
LeBron James will be expected to continue his excellent form as he racked up 32 points in the first before slowing down to record 19 points in the second. However, it was not just James who was getting into his own, it was the entire Miami squad, the whole team has already lifted up their field goal percentage from .429 to .503.
They have also improved on their ball distribution by averaging 22 assists in the two games of the post season. James has averaged 25.5 points in the playoffs so far while Dwyane Wade who recorded 25 points in Game 2 is averaging 22 points.
While the Miami players have risen up to the occasion things seem to get worse for the Knicks, with Iman Shumpert suffering a torn ACL in Game 1, they now have lost Amare` Stoudemire after he has to get done a minor surgery on his hand.
Even though, Carmelo Anthony got back to being himself with 30 points in Game 2 after putting up a poor showing in Game 1 of just 11 points. However the rest of the roster have seen a drop in their scoring averages, considering the fact they were being considered as one of the ‘hottest’ teams coming into the playoffs.
As Game 3 sees the series shift its focus from South Beach to the Big Apple, Miami Heat look all set to continue on with their excellent start. Head Coach, Erik Spoelstra has labelled the trip to New York as the real start of the series.
"We talked about it, we did what we were supposed to do. We're already trying to leave this game behind and try to start this series. It will be a great environment up there [in New York]."-- Erik Spoelstra.
On the other hand, Knicks interim coach, Mike Woodson will be hoping to turn things around from here on. He still remains adamant that the Knicks only need one win away from home suggesting that his team will be able to secure the games being played in the Big Apple.
"It is still a seven-game series. You have to win four to get out of it. They (Miami) held serve at home ... We want to win and to get out of this series we have to win a game here." -- Woodson.
Even though the Knicks chances of making a comeback look down and out, however with the turnaround they made in the regular season to make it to the playoffs, one cannot just write them off at the moment, however, they do have to face the reality of being undermanned with several players out.
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