smackeddog wrote:

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.

He is..you can't game plan for melo when you have shooters arnd him

babyKnicks wrote:

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!?

Like others have said, we need to get a split on the first 2. Then we may have a chance.

If I had to pick one key matchup it would be Amare v. Bosh.
The other key would be Melo staying out of foul trouble, they'll try to run Lebron at him.

We have to play slow and play physical. Bosh can be punked, Amare needs to get under his skin. Melo must mess with Lebron, put him in a spin cycle or two. And we need Shump, BD and Bibby to constantly bang on Wade. This team can be intimidated but we have to match their intensity early on and bring our A game everyday. We have missed 2 or more starters each time we played them and we are still without Lin, but yes we still have a shot. If I was an odds maker I would go with 4-7.