American Airlines Arena was filled with shooting stars last night in the matchup that was supposed to reignite the rivalry, as the Knicks outlasted the Heat 91-86, surpassing their win total from last season.
Box Score
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| This is a rivalry |
Here's my breakdown:
Point Guard: The Knicks win here, as Chauncey Billups is a seasoned veteran who plays smart. Most importantly, he was the NBA Finals MVP in 2004. Here is a list of the last 10 players who won Finals MVP's besides Billups:
Kobe Bryant (2009, 2010), Paul Pierce (2008), Tony Parker (2007), Dwayne Wade (2006), Tim Duncan (1999, 2003, 2005), Shaq (2002, 2001, 2000), Michael Jordan (1991, 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 1998), Hakeem Olajuwon (1995)...Actually let's stop right there because the 1990 MVP was a certain former Knick executive who may or may not have been somewhat involved in the trade talks to bring Carmelo Anthony to New York.
The point I'm making is that every other player on that list is either in the Hall of Fame (Jordan, Olajuwon), a lock to be headed to the Hall of Fame (Bryant, Pierce, Duncan, Shaq), or very probably Hall of Fame bound (Parker, Wade). Billups is slightly below the "very probably" section, but nonetheless is clearly a top-tier guy.
You have to stick by the cardinal rule: You always pick the former Finals MVP over the Mario Chalmers.
Shooting Guard: The Heat win with Wade. Not just because he is a member of the list from my last paragraph, but because his competition is 22-year-old rookie Landry Fields. However, it's not nearly as much of a Heat domination as you might think just reading that sentence. Fields is a very solid defender and rebounder. He's about 3 inches taller than Wade at 6' 7" and is the type of player who could slow Wade down, if even just a little bit. Still, I should reiterate that Wade is a superstar and Fields is a solid rookie. It's no contest.
Small Forward: The Heat win with James, but not by nearly as much as he is favored against most teams. LeBron vs. Melo was all the rage in the years after they were drafted numbers 1 and 3 respectively (LeBron vs. Milicic and Melo vs. Milicic was never all that popular for some reason). Melo is now 8-4 (including last night's victory) against LeBron in their NBA careers.
They seem to motivate each other to play: Last night LeBron had 27 points, 7 boards, 5 assists and 3 steals. With a bum shooting elbow, Melo had 29 points and 9 boards.
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| LeBron vs. Melo always lives up to the hype |
If you'd like to go back even further, head to 2002. LeBron was a junior at St. Vincent-St. Mary and Melo was a senior at Oak Hill Academy. LeBron put up 36 points, 8 boards, 5 assists and 6 steals. Melo answered with 34 points, 11 boards, 2 assists, and most importantly, 1 victory.
Now the two get to battle it out head-to-head four times a season, and possibly for seven games in the playoffs. While you have to give it to the 2-time reigning league MVP, this will be a fun matchup to watch.
Power Forward: The Knicks win with Amar'e Stoudemire, not by much, but by more than LeBron over Melo. Bosh is averaging 18 points and 8 boards per game this season, while Amar'e is at 26 and 9. For their careers, the advantage Bosh had was his outside jump shot. This season, Amar'e has greatly improved his outside shot, and while Bosh had a few more points and boards last night, Amar'e rightfully took a backseat to Melo.
And there was Amar'e in the last minute, swatting a LeBron James shot attempt to seal the game.
He yearns for the spotlight and wants to be the hero. He signed in New York when no other superstar would and declared that "the Knicks are back" and then made good on his word, as the Knicks were pretty firmly in the playoff picture before they acquired Melo. Bosh was unable to lead Toronto to the playoffs last season and then fled to be the third Musketeer behind James and Wade.
Still, Amar'e vs. Bosh is an All-Star vs. All-Star matchup that will always be full of intensity and grit, which are two key ingredients to a superb playoff series.
Center: The Heat get the edge here, but solely because of size. Ronny Turiaf should get most of the starts for the Knicks at center, but he is often bruised and battered, and is undersized at just 6'10". Shawne Williams, who started last night for the Knicks is even smaller than Turiaf. Eric Dampier is about 7 feet tall; his big body creates problems for the Knicks down low. However, once again, this is not a huge advantage for the Heat, albeit an advantage nonetheless.
Bench: The advantage here goes to the Heat. The Knicks' bench is almost non-existent. Toney Douglass has shown great promise, but is undersized for his position, and runs very hot and cold. Bill Walker is equally as up and down. Anthony Carter is a solid hustle guy who knows the game well, but is undersized, just like Douglass.
While the Heat bench has been just as inconsistent, they have the positions that fit their team needs. Joel Anthony is a superb defender, who has already shown that he is able to give Amar'e trouble. Eddie House, Mike Miller and James Jones are all shooters, who, when hot, are the perfect accompaniments to LeBron and Wade. Despite not playing against the Knicks last night, Juwan Howard and Zydrunas Ilgauskas give the Heat extra big bodies that the Knicks simply don't have.
Coach: The Knicks win here because of experience. Despite the fact that D'Antoni seems to be unaware of the definition of the word defense, he brought the Suns to back-to-back Western Conference Championships, and he is on the coaching staff of the U.S. olympic team. Spoelstra has gotten the Heat playing resiliently this season after a rough start to the season, but his team is still 1-7 against the top teams in the league (Celtics, Lakers, Mavericks and Bulls). His inexperience loses him this battle.
Overall, the Heat appear to have the advantage. But last night the Knicks played like a contending team, in just their third game since the trade. They should be picking up another piece or two (Jared Jefferies, Earl Barron?), and they actually played some stifling defense when they needed it (Billups' two late steals, Carter's hounding defense on Wade).
The rivalry is not yet burning, but the pieces are in place. Now we have to wait and see if a playoff series can rekindle some dormant fire.
It sucks the Heat are prob getting Mike Bibby (and Troy Murphy), despite having career low numbers he is shooting as well from downtown as he ever has, plus he has the playoff experience and has hit big shots in big games in the past.
ReplyDeleteIt sucks that because these players had ridiculous contracts, for their current production, no team will claim them off waivers, leaving them free to sign with any team they want for the minimum. Every good player you hear Celtics, Heat, Lakers and its complete bs and ruins the competitive integrity of the league.
Unfortunately, it is not surprising that next year when the Knicks would finally be in a position that these players would want to come to them that the NBA will prob make a rule that players can't do this.