Knicks 3-1 vs Heat this season. NY 5th & MIA 7th. NY just 3 wins better. We cld talk about NY having the better season all day but this ain't the regular season. The playoff is a different beast. Experience becomes significant & Miami has a tonne.
In the last 3 seasons Miami has played in 2 ECF's & NBA finals. Heat coach & players are playoff battle tested. Spo does his best work in the post season. Thibs ain't no slouch & is also defensive minded but his working w/ young, inexperienced players who haven't been tested. Miami's experience showed vs Bucks, dismantling the 1st seed who owned the best record in the league, only winning ONE gm.
The version of Miami ain't an 8th seed but more the same team who was #1 last season. The thing that will hurt Miami is the absence of Herro & lesser point Dipo. Heat can over come what Dipo provides but Herro was close to 2nd leading scorer. Heat seem to be playing quite well without him though.
Bam had a tough time offensively vs the twin towers, which he tends to do vs taller players. In spite of that averaged 17.4 pts, 8.6 rebs & 5 assists. After tough match ups vs Lopez & Giannis he may have an easier time vs NY's bigs which he averages 18.5pts & 8rebs. He'll be key in this series.
Unlike Coach Bud, if Thibs can adjust defense on Jimmy he'll find better success.
I have Miami taking it in 6 games based on the above. Hopefully all will be healthy & i look forward to an exciting series.
Best Of Luck NY Fans. You'll need it
