I might be the only basketball fan (that isn't from New York) that thinks the Knicks can actually upset the Miami Heat and the striped shirts that they signed as free agents at the start of the post-season. One of me and my brother's friends is a huge Miami Heat fan or bandwagon jumper (whatever you want to call it) and actually had the cojones to tell me that Miami is going to sweep the Knicks simply because they won by 33 the first game. Now let's take a look at game 1 from a real basketball fan's perspective. In game 1 Tyson Chandler had the flu and scored 0 points, Carmelo Anthony had 11 points going 3/15 from the field and Amare Stoudemire had 9 points going 2/7 from the field. Along with that, the Knicks had 24 turnovers and also had 26 personal fouls and also shot a horrible 35% from the field and 33% from distance. LeBron dropped 32 points (and showed the whole world that John Lucas is more of a man,) to go with Dwyane Wade's 19, and the Heat as a team shot 49% from the field as well as 38% from distance. Now, here is where there's a huge discrepancy in the statistics because a team can deal with turnovers (such as the OKC Thunder who average about 17 turnovers a game) and a team can still keep a game close or even win by defense when shooting a low percentage. The Miami Heat shot 24/33 from the charity stripe on what appeared to be horrible refereeing, at least to me anyways. With Iman Shumpert out, the Knicks lose their best on-ball defender. For the Knicks to compensate, Landry Fields is going to have to play a solid all-around game and the help-defense for the Knicks has to be flawless. I think Carmelo comes out today and makes up for his poor performance last Saturday. He is the center of this team, and Amare's performance as well as the whole team is dependent on how Carmelo plays. I think the Knicks cover a +9.5 spread tonight. The Knicks have to keep the paint locked down, and also have to rotate on the three point shooting where Mike Miller and Shane Battier can shoot lights out. Carmelo HAS to step up today, and I think he does.
Result: Well, there goes the exciting upset that I thought could have potentially happened. Already missing Jeremy Lin, Iman Shumpert and now Amare Stoudemire for getting into a fight with a fire extinguisher, the Knicks' chances at an upset are now slim to none. Carmelo now has full responsibility to operate this team and offensively he could lift the Knicks to get W's, but it's on the defensive end where the Knicks don't really have a chance. This game I said that Miami's three point shooting has to be kept under control and the rotations have to be there for the Knicks. Miami shot 43% going 9/21 from the three point line. Mike Miller took all of his shots from distance and went 3/5 as well as Shane Battier who went 3/5 from distance. The Knicks shot 49% from the field, 33% from three, and actually out-rebounded the Heat 40-33. Dwyane Wade lead the scoring for the Heat with 25, Chris Bosh dropped 21 and LeBron James scored 19, had 7 boards and 9 assists. Melo lead the scoring for the Knicks scoring 30 and grabbing 9 boards. Miami's the favorite this year so if the Knicks lose it's not that big of a disappointment, especially after getting hit with all the injuries.
13-6-1 (loss)
Here it is. My first pick of the post season. I really wanted to make a pick on OKC yesterday but the defending champs aren't exactly soft anymore; and actually did hold their own against the Thunder last night. I'm not going to take statistics into account because playing in the playoffs is not the same as the regular season. Although the averages of each team and player does give a picture or an idea of how they are going to do during post-season, it still doesn't dictate who's going to win. Some players choke, some players excel under pressure, some players get injured the very first game so it's very hard to use the numbers to predict a winner. The three guys in the picture above (Pau Gasol, Kobe Bryant, Andrew Bynum) I believe are the players that are going to make the Lakers levels above average teams like the Nuggets. I might have an old school mentality when it comes to basketball. I would personally rather have two all star big men than one elite scorer. But what happens when you have both? Well shit, you get a team that's going to be hard to beat in the playoffs despite missing Ron Artest for the next 6 games due to the elbow to James Harden's dome. I think the Lakers are going to be in sync tonight. Kobe and I (in my mind at least) believe that if there's such thing as a best shot to win a 6th ring, this is the year to do it. Kobe's going to come out with a good performance tonight, backed up by his two big men in Andrew Bynum, who has been playing exceptional basketball lately and is also the best center in the league and Pau Gasol who is one of the smoothest power forwards to play the game. The big men are going to give the Nuggets problem in the paint as I don't think Javale McGee can contain Bynum. As the playoffs get deeper into the series, I will go more in depth in analyzing the games. I see the Lakers getting the W and covering a -4.5 spread.
Result: Laker basketball has got to be one of the funnest to watch. Andrew Bynum is a powerful center who can rebound very well and can score around the basket. Along to go with his board and scoring skill set, today he also got 10 blocks to complete the first triple double in Lakers playoff history since Magic Johnson. Bynum had 10 points, 13 rebounds and 10 blocks. Gasol messed around and almost got a triple double ending with 13 points, 8 boards and 8 assists. The poetry in Gasol's game, especially to his partner big-man is such a beautiful thing to watch. Kobe Bryant ended with 31, 5 boards and 4 assists. Steve Blake also came off the bench scoring 3 from long distance and Jordan Hill came off the bench scoring 10. As a team the Lakers shot 50% from the field, 35% from 3, grabbing 52 rebounds and 15 blocks to Denver Nuggets' 36% from the field, 29% from distance, and 46 rebounds. Ty Lawson went 3/11 from the field, the same as Afflalo and Gallinari lead the scoring with 19. The Lakers were a force in the paint, and it's hard for Denver to get in the lane for easy baskets. Kobe Bryant was on the same page as my prediction today dropping 31, and the big men proved to be dominant against the undersized or not as skilled big men.
Win (13-5-1)
For those who care enough to read my articles and write ups, I've been absent because the last month and a half for me has been extremely busy due to school. I'm currently a full-time student at Douglas College in the sport science program and I'm trying to pursue a career in physiotherapy. I still plan to continue writing write ups on basketball games especially in time for the playoffs. I also follow the major leagues (baseball for those who don't have the patience to watch 9 innings), but I only really started following last season. I'm going to continue baseball and hopefully I'll reach a level of comfort around June to make picks. Tomorrow I have my last exam in bio-mechanics and unfortunately I'm procrastinating. So, after tomorrow I will be posting more picks. If you're looking for a good read, or something to stimulate your mind check out my friend Darren Jones' blog. He's an awesome writer, and we've been talking about working together to give you readers our analysis on sports. Get familiar!
