Game Preview Article: Miami Heat @ New York Knicks
We have a good rivalry series in here, with Miami being on a double revenge spot, after having surprisingly lost their first two games of the season against the Knicks. The first game was played under very special circumstances, as it was played in the middle of Hurricane Sandy, while the second contest was even weirder, as the Knicks without Carmelo Anthony went to Miami and crushed the Heat by 112-92, while shooting 18-44 (41%) 3pts! For today, Miami has a revenge mindset, but I don't like their physical spot for today. They hosted Memphis last Friday night, in a very physical game that had nothing in comparison to the previous games of the Heat, where they were toying with lowly teams. This time, Miami had to show good intensity throughout the whole game, with Lebron James being forced to play 42 minutes! That game had a slow pace of 86.28 and even though the game ended with 189 points, only 179 points had been scored with just 1 minute to go!
The Knicks are coming from a win at Washington, where they needed a good fourth quarter effort to secure the win. Jason Kidd was sent to the bench, as he just couldn't shoot the basket to save his life, while his defensive skills have now regressed due to his lack of speed. Now with James White and Iman Shumpert on the starting backcourt, Mike Woodson is attempting to have their best defensive unit starting the games, in order to compensate their recent offensive problems. This was very necessary, as the Knicks's current form is quite far from the level they've showed during the first months of the competition. I expect today's game to be an exciting game between two top teams that will be motivated to perform at their best level on National TV game. Miami seems to be the better team right now, however they are coming from a very physical game against Memphis that definitely left some marks on them.
Under!
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