Basketball

Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Knicks look to cool Heat in Miami

Playoff rivalry of '90s about to be renewed

By: Tim Reynolds

Posted: 04/28/2012 1:00 AM | Comments: 0

Miami Heat's LeBron James screams after he was called for a foul during an NBA game against the Boston Celtics during the first quarter at the American Airlines Arena in Miami, Florida, Tuesday, April 10, 2012. (Charles Trainor Jr./Miami Herald/MCT) (TRIBUNE MEDIA MCT)

MIAMI -- LeBron James started thinking about what a playoff opener against the New York Knicks would mean a few days ago. Amare Stoudemire started talking about taking down the Miami Heat a few months ago.

Here they are.

One of the most hotly contested NBA post-season rivalries of a generation ago is about to be rekindled.

The second-seeded Heat open defence of their Eastern Conference championship -- and look to take the first step toward grabbing a bigger prize -- when they host Game 1 of the playoffs against the seventh-seeded Knicks this afternoon.

Miami went 3-0 against the Knicks this season, two of those wins coming before New York ended the regular season with 18 victories in 24 outings.

"We're all looking forward to the challenge again," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said Friday. "And what we did was recommit to an unknowable future. There's more than a handful of teams that feel exactly like us right now, that feel like they have a legitimate chance to contend for a title.

"Nothing is guaranteed. We understand that. But what can be guaranteed is our commitment to each other and to this journey."

It's the first time the Heat and Knicks play a post-season series since an epic run of four straight years of matchups from 1997 through 2000. All of them started with Game 1s in Miami. All of them went the distance. New York won the final three.

The history may add some intrigue, but the players involved this time around say they already know this one won't be lacking for spice.

"It's going to be a fun series," said Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony, who'll likely be matched up much of the time against James, a favourite to garner his third MVP award in four years. "It's going to be a tough series. At this point, we're just ready to play."

Still, to get ready what's coming up against Miami, the Knicks have spent some time talking about the past.

New York centre Tyson Chandler's last post-season game was also in Miami -- the one where he and the Dallas Mavericks wrapped up a victory in the NBA finals last June. And yes, Chandler (who couldn't practice Friday due to the flu) has talked to his new club about what it takes to capture the moment in the playoffs.

So has Allan Houston, who hit a shot to win the 1999 New York-Miami series, still a painful moment for Heat fans. Knicks coach Mike Woodson asked Houston -- now an assistant general manager for the team -- and another veteran of those series, Larry Johnson, to provide some motivation not long ago. They happily obliged.

"We shared a couple of things," Houston said. "Mostly it was about them. It really wasn't about us. It was about what they have the potential to do."

It probably hasn't been easy for either side to completely prepare for this series. The game will tip off about 36 hours after the Heat returned home from the regular-season finale in Washington.

-- The Associated Press

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition April 28, 2012 C11

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