Different Night, Same Story. Heat cruise over Knicks, take 2-0 series lead

After getting embarrassed in Game 1, the New York Knicks took on the Miami Heat to try and show the basketball world Game 1 was a fluke and that is not how good they really are.

The Knicks played better, but it still wasn’t enough to stop the Heat from taking a strong 2-0 series lead with a 104-94 victory in Game 2 of the series.

The loss of Iman Shumpert was obvious as the 2006 Finals MVP Dwyane Wade had his way early for the Heat, leading Miami with 25-points. LeBron James might be their best player, but the Heat will only go as far as their leader takes them. Landry Fields is a role player at best and just could not keep up with Wade’s speed and overall talent; especially with him feeding off his home crowd.

New York’s superstar Carmelo Anthony, who wasn’t his normal scoring self in Game 1, played like the star he was the past, scoring 15 in the first quarter. Melo needs to have EVEN BETTER quarters like these for the Knicks to have any chance at all vs. the overpowering Heat. At times in the game he looks like the only Knick who has a sense of offense.

Tyson Chandler, still battling the flu, played like he did all year, with passion and heart. A big controversy coming out of Game 1 was the officiating. This game was better than last, but one play had me cursing and scratching my head. Tyson Chandler slams home a monstrous dunk and immediately taunted the Heat players underneath him. However, Tyson didn’t get up in their face and start screaming; he didn’t even pound his chest These are grown men doing their job and playing the game they love at the highest possible level.

They are not robots, statues, holograms or paper figures. These are PROFESSIONAL ATHLETES. If you can’t show emotion on a playoff dunk vs. the league’s most hated team, then basketball in America has failed.

The Knicks showed they could hang with Miami, keeping the game moderately close the entire time. But like the last game, the seven-point deficit almost felt like a 17- point deficit. The Knicks were always that one big run away and it just never happened. This team just doesn’t have that Clippers run from Sundaynight in them. I would love to see it, but just don’t see it coming from this particular team.

By the way – where is Amar’e Stoudemire?! If I showed my grandmother the game and told her to watch No. 6 and No. 1 and asked her which one is battling the flu I’m pretty sure she would say numero uno.

A year and half ago this was your team STAT can you please start playing like it? I know you had a tough year with injuries and the loss of your brother, but this is playoff time.

The box score is going to say 18 points and 13 rebounds, but I felt like Stoudemire disappeared for most of the game. And those three missed free throws is inexcusable, by him or any professional basketball player.

I’m a plumber and if I cant use a plunger, I simply lose my job. FREE THROWS, man, FREE THROWS!

Oh and I would say punching a fire extinguisher glass case really gives you a slight advantage over the other team. You crashed the glass a little late there STAT. Good job though. I’m sure that’s going to help your free throw shooting.

For the Heat, they again showed why they are the scariest team in the East. They played hard on both sides of the floor and their superstars came to play. When LeBron, Wade, and Chris Bosh are all shooting 50% from the field and are challenging shots, it’s hard to beat them. The three combined for 65 points going 23-for-46 from the field.

Watching the game just irks you as a fan sometimes. Every shot the Knicks take the Heat seem to be all over, whether its hands in their faces or simply forcing a harder shot. Every time the Heat shot it looked like they are were in pregame warm-ups, not a defender to be found.

Game 3 brings this series back to the Mecca of basketball, but will the home team come to play? Is anyone going to show some pride on the defensive end? Can they give New Yorkers the playoff defense equivalent to when Patrick Ewing, Larry Johnson and Charles Oakley played? Can anyone but Carmelo get a groove on offense and take the load off him?

The Knicks must show New York they will not lay down to the hated Heat. Show me something, show us all something. Prove them wrong.