Howard Simmons/New York Daily News
LeBron James (l.) and the Heat are too much for Carmelo Anthony's Knicks... again. Miami takes a 2-0 lead in the series.
MIAMI â€" Carmelo Anthony got his alright but for most of Game 2 he looked and played frustrated. He complained to refs, turned the ball over and couldn’t bail out his team when the Knicks needed him most.
The postseason drought for the Knicks, as well as Anthony and Amar’e Stoudemire, continued last night as the Heat once again held a lead for the entire second half and cruised to a 104-94 Game 2 victory.
The Heat now leads the best-of-seven series 2-0 with Game 3 scheduled for Thursday at the Garden. It was as close to a do-or-die game as you can get, especially since the Knicks haven’t won a playoff game in 11 years.
They have now lost 12 straight postseason games, matching the NBA record set by the Memphis Grizzlies.
With Dwyane Wade exploiting the loss of Iman Shumpert and the Tyson Chandler still fighting the flu, Miami exposed the Knicks defensively, shooting 52 percent. Wade scored 25 points on 11-for-18 shooting while LeBron James added 19 points with nine assists and seven rebounds.
Chris Bosh added 21 points and Mario Chalmers scored nine of his 13 in the fourth quarter. Anthony led the Knicks with 30 but he scored 15 in the opening period and made just 6 of 15 shots the rest of the game. Stoudemire scored 18 while Chandler and J.R. Smith each scored 13.
 Landry Fields started in place of Shumpert and scored just two points and was victimized repeatedly by Wade. Shumpert suffered a torn left ACL in Saturday’s series opener and will be out six to eight months.
 The one encouraging sign for the Knicks was the play Baron Davis in the second half. Davis, who is playing with a sore back, scored 10 of his 12 points in the second half.
 Anthony matched his point total from Game 1 in the first quarter last night. He reached his 11th point with 1:27 remaining in the opening period and ended the first half with 21 points.
 He was the only Knick in double figures but Mike Woodson went deep into his bench with Shumpert unavailable and Baron Davis struggling. Smith played 16 minutes and had six points and four assists while Mike Bibby and Steve Novak each knocked down a 3-pointer.
Wade was a different player with Shumpert not around to hound him. The All Star guard made 8 of his first 10 shots and scored 19 first half points. Fields struggled to keep up with Wade and got an earful from Woodson after allowing Wade to slip inside for a lay-up off of an inbounds play.
 That basket extended Miami’s lead to 49-45 and after Smith’s errant shot ignited a fast break, Wade feed LeBron for a dunk. Another lay-up from LeBron made it 53-45 before Anthony ended the half with a jumper from the top of the circle.
It was a pair of transition baskets in the third quarter from LeBron that put Miami ahead 67-56. He was fouled on both shot but failed to convert either three-point opportunity.
 With Anthony, Stoudemire and Chandler playing the entire quarter, the Knicks closed to 72-68 when Davis found Chandler alone under the basket for an easy dunk. But a corner three from Shane Battier and three-point play from James made it 78-68.
Stoudemire sat to begin the fourth quarter as did LeBron. Mario Chalmers jumper gave the Heat an 11-point lead. Four more points from the Heat point guard made it 84-71 and the Miami was on the verge of making it a 15-point game when Chalmers threw a backdoor baseline to Wade, who had nothing but free lane to the hoop.
The crowd rose as Wade left his feet but in his attempt to add unnecessary power to his dunk, Wade slammed the ball off the back iron and blew the slam. That miss was the opening the Knicks were waiting for.
Over the next two minutes, Stoudemire outscored Miami 6-2 but after Stoudemire missed the second of two free throws, Chalmers’ corner three gave the Heat an 89-77 lead.
The Knicks then turned the ball over on three of their next four possessions, including two from Anthony. Miami took advantage when Bosh’s corner three made it 92-77 with 5:22 to play.
Comments
Post a Comment