The Heat Hold Serve At Home: Can The Knicks Do The Same

Last night the New York Knicks looked good for a half. They are apparently having to play at a high level and as much as it pains most people to say, they are a bit outmatched by the Miami Heat. Losing Iman Shumpert hurts more than you know because now the Knicks have a problem matching up with Dwyane Wade. Melo does a pretty good job on Lebron but no one man can stop the human wrecking machine. 

The Knicks are pretty demanding of Carmelo. He can get his shot on anyone, but because the Knicks point guards are older and slow, guys that don't handle the ball are getting more minutes and Carmelo has to handle the rock for a large quantity of the game. This wouldn't be a problem in most cases but when you are also being asked to guard the best player in the game on the other end of the floor, it can become taxing on the body during crunch time. 

You can argue that Lebron has to guard Melo too, but that isn't a full truth. There are stretches where Eric Spoelstra will put Shane Battier on Melo to rest Lebron while he is still on the floor. The Knicks don't really have that luxury as Melo and J.R. Smith are the only two Knicks who can match up with Lebron and when Lebron sees JR on him, he goes to the post (which is something that he couldn't do in the past). 

The Knicks need to get more production out of Landry Fields if they are going to make a dent in the Heat armour. As of now, the Heat role players have outplayed Amare and the rest of the Knicks complimentary players. Haslem and Chalmers stand out especially as they are getting rebounds and scoring pretty much when they want too. Chris Bosh is even making shots that he hasn't really made in the past against good defense. 

Someone on the bench for the Knicks needs to step up in a big way. Novak needs more looks and we need to get something out of Jared Jeffries and even Mike Bibby. The real truth of the matter is unless Amare starts getting in position on the block and starts using that body for what it was meant to, the Knicks are just treading water. We may get one or possibly two wins out of this series but there is no way we can win unless we get more consistency from the team. 

Stay Breezy ~ I'm Out!