"We always wanna win the trophy. We call that shiny stuff. That's what the trophy is."

loweyecue wrote:

babyKnicks wrote:"We're a much better defensive team than we were before, and we have so many threats offensively that we can match up with their offensive threats," Stoudemire said. "I think we are even as far as our starting lineups, and I think our second unit is a little bit stronger."

IF he can prevent Bosh from outplaying him AND Shump can slow down Wade we have a shot of matching up with their starting line up. Melo has shown he can equal Lebron. Our second unit will need to bring it. Jeffries and Tyson will also have key roles. Hopefully Tyson can get his dunks to go in. The Heat have nothing on us inside the paint. But we need good PG play to even get in there.

So you are saying there's a chance!?

fishmike wrote:how do you beat the Heat? How do the Knicks win one game? The only advantage we have is size up front, and its pretty minor. Heat remind me of the Bulls in the 90s, minus the great coach. Lebron is so far the best player its not even funny. Hope Im wrong, but I dont see us winning a game

Easy don't turn the ball over, make them play half court and make them beat you on the perimeter.

ChuckBuck wrote:

fishmike wrote:how do you beat the Heat? How do the Knicks win one game? The only advantage we have is size up front, and its pretty minor. Heat remind me of the Bulls in the 90s, minus the great coach. Lebron is so far the best player its not even funny. Hope Im wrong, but I dont see us winning a game

Easy don't turn the ball over, make them play half court and make them beat you on the perimeter.

CashMoney wrote:

fishmike wrote:how do you beat the Heat? How do the Knicks win one game? The only advantage we have is size up front, and its pretty minor. Heat remind me of the Bulls in the 90s, minus the great coach. Lebron is so far the best player its not even funny. Hope Im wrong, but I dont see us winning a game

Melo has alway played well against Lebron. Head to head the almost cancel each other out. It's the same story with Bosh and STAT. Wade can't be stopped but we can hope that Shump can contain him.

Talent wise, on the starting end, I think we match up better than most people realize but I feel our bench has a decent advantage. Unfortunately an 8 seed has never neaten a 1 seed.

If we can split the first 2 I think the Knicks win in 6.

If it was me coaching I would:
1) try to keep the score in the 70s. Walk the ball up. Slow it down, grind it out, work the boards. We are bigger up front. Try to take away some of their speed
2) Get Amare/Melo in as many isos as possible
3) make sure Shumpert smacks Wade on his dislocated finger at least once a qtr
4) pack the paint and make the Heat (stars) beat with you jumpers, EXCEPT Mike Miller. Someone must guard him at the 3 point line, else like Novak/JR he will beat you.
5) shove around Bosh. Dont let him get going. Get in his head. Make Lebron feel like hes got to do it himself.

Of course there is a chance... doesnt mean I wont be rooting like hell for it, but when I say Knicks get smoked Im just calling it like I see it

fishmike wrote:
I dont disagree with anything you have said here, but Lebron and the Heat flat out outclassed us every game so far. I saw nothing in any of those games telling me we could win.

If it was me coaching I would:
1) try to keep the score in the 70s. Walk the ball up. Slow it down, grind it out, work the boards. We are bigger up front. Try to take away some of their speed
2) Get Amare/Melo in as many isos as possible
3) make sure Shumpert smacks Wade on his dislocated finger at least once a qtr
4) pack the paint and make the Heat (stars) beat with you jumpers, EXCEPT Mike Miller. Someone must guard him at the 3 point line, else like Novak/JR he will beat you.
5) shove around Bosh. Dont let him get going. Get in his head. Make Lebron feel like hes got to do it himself.

Of course there is a chance... doesnt mean I wont be rooting like hell for it, but when I say Knicks get smoked Im just calling it like I see it

I agree with most of that- I would emphasise more that we should not overlook Bosh- people always mock him, but against us he seems to always play well. I think the team gets so caught up in stopping Wade and Lebron, they forget about him and he makes us pay for it.

I hope we beat them, but I wish the players hadn't opened their mouths so much over the past week about how much they'd like to play Miami- they've given them loads of extra motivation. Also the Heat are well rested, while our bench players had to play 2 consecutive games with only one day off before the playoffs.

We really need to raise our game to another level to stand a chance- Lebron's going to be looking at this series to show the world he's not a choker. The Heat play best when they're in that mindset, and teams get intimidated when they see them doing all those circus alley-oops. We need to stay tough- this team has shown us they can win when it matters, lets hope they prove themselves in the games ahead.

ChuckBuck wrote:

fishmike wrote:how do you beat the Heat? How do the Knicks win one game? The only advantage we have is size up front, and its pretty minor. Heat remind me of the Bulls in the 90s, minus the great coach. Lebron is so far the best player its not even funny. Hope Im wrong, but I dont see us winning a game

Easy don't turn the ball over, make them play half court and make them beat you on the perimeter.

That actually sounds like the Heat's game plan. Smith and Novak are getting hot at just the right time....get them the ball!!

gunsnewing wrote:

smackeddog wrote: Also the Heat are well rested, while our bench players had to play 2 consecutive games with only one day off before the playoffs.

At least we have a bench!

Ha- yes, but their bench is filled with scrubs, and as we know, scrubs tend to do well against us (and only us!).

Also anyone remember that much hated Heat writer- was his name Le Batard or something? Is he still around? Last I heard of him was him saying "Knick fans welcome to another decade of irrelevance!" and gloating after Lebron chose the Heat over us. It would be great to defeat his beloved team (and equally as terrible for his beloved team to defeat us).

GustavBahler wrote:I remember that suffocating D the Heat played the first time they faced them in Miami this season. Different roster and coach but its going to be interesting to see how the Knicks respond this time to that kind of D in the playoffs.

I remember what they did to Lin- that was horrific to watch. When they key in on a guy, it's nasty. Since Melo is likely going to be the target, he's going to have to play the best basketball of his career.

gunsnewing wrote:They key in on Melo and they will be burned by amare, tyson, shump, davis, novak, & smith

Plus, I think Melo can handle it (no disrespect to Lin, but he caved under the pressure)- I think we're in trouble if they chose to key in on BD instead.

smackeddog wrote:

gunsnewing wrote:They key in on Melo and they will be burned by amare, tyson, shump, davis, novak, & smith

Plus, I think Melo can handle it (no disrespect to Lin, but he caved under the pressure)- I think we're in trouble if they chose to key in on BD instead.