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This is the third installment in a series of posts breaking
down the match-ups between the Knicks and Heat position by position. The third match-up we will take a look at is
the small forward position where the superstars reside.
Match-up: Carmelo Anthony vs. Lebron James
This is the match-up everyone will have their eyes on. The superstar that wanted the limelight and
bright lights of New York City and
the superstar that shied away from it. Carmelo
Anthony vs. Lebron James. They have been
going at it against each other for years, dating back to their high school
days. There is no bigger stage to take
their rivalry than the NBA playoffs.
Both will come out firing wanting to put on a show for a national
audience.
Carmelo Anthony has had his most success against the Heat
this season from the perimeter. In the
two regular season games versus the Heat this season, Anthony averaged four 3
point makes per game. This works well
for the Knicks because Anthony has been on fire from deep throughout April, shooting
a Steve Novak-esque 46%. If he can knock
down his deep jumpers, it will force James to stay away from the basket
guarding Anthony. That will open up
opportunities for the other Knick players to take advantage of.
Anthony has also been able to exploit James while driving to
the basket. Anthony has one of, if not
the quickest first step and blow by dribble in the NBA. It makes it difficult for players to guard
him because he can then explode and finish at the rim or shoot a pull-up jumper
over a defender. This style of play also
gives Anthony plenty of opportunities to get to the foul line. Anthony averaged eight trips to the line for
every 36 minutes James was on the court.
Obviously, not all the fouls counted against James but if Anthony can
get James in foul trouble it will be one less superstar the Knicks have to
worry about.
The offense will run through Anthony and if he is able to
knock down his shots and draw fouls it will force the Heat to throw more than
one defender at him. If the Heat show
more focus on Anthony, he is a more than capable passer and will find the open
teammate if given the chance. It will
then come down to the other Knicks making the most of Anthony’s passes to
finish the job.
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On the flip side, there are times Anthony may struggle. It is nearly impossible for anyone to guard
James, so that is where the challenge will come for Anthony. When Anthony is committed to playing defense,
he is capable of getting stops. One
example is the game the Knicks won in Miami last season when the final play of
the game was Anthony forcing James into a tough shot at the rim and Amar’e
Stoudemire coming over for the block.
That was great defensive effort.
But there are times he does not show that effort, and it hurts the Knicks.
You can count on Anthony bringing the intensity for this
one, wanting to show people he’s just as good as James is. But if Anthony is not on top of his game, the
Knicks will struggle. Anthony has to
find a way to stay in front of James and not allow him to prance into the
paint. Such advances into the paint
would destroy the Knicks defense as they would have to collapse on the driving
James and leave open shots for his teammates.
It may also put Anthony in foul trouble, who has been prone to fouls this
season; multiple times picking up his fourth foul early in the second
half. Not having Anthony on the court
for any amount of time other than his normal rest would destroy the offense.
There is a positive for this, as James has shot only 46%
against the Knicks while Anthony was on the court. That sounds good for an NBA player, but is
10% lower than his normal averages. Even
with that, the edge in this match-up is in the Heat’s favor. It is closer than people think, but James has
the edge on defense and that proves to be the difference in this match-up.
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