Anyone who is a sports fan and witnessed the rivalry between the New York Knicks and Miami Heat in the late 90’s and early 2000’s can tell you that what happened in the first two games of this series between these two teams does not at all resemble what we’ve seen in past years. Saturday was by far the worst basketball game I’ve ever seen in my life! The game was pretty much over within the first two quarters and it was NOT due to the play of Dwayne Wade or Lebron James; no, it was due to the officiating and James’ superb acting. I mean this guy was throwing himself to the floor when any Knick so much as came near him. The refs were calling technical fouls on any Knick that even looked at him the wrong way. Any little knick-knack foul was called during this most anticipated playoff match-up. No other NBA match-up was more appealing than this one. And you know what, maybe I woudn’t have even cared that the game was being called so tight if the game would have been called EVEN on BOTH sides. By the end of the first half the Heat had attempted an astonishing 35 free throws to the Knicks FIVE. It was ridiculous! Even Jeff Van Gundy (ex-Knicks coach) who was courtside as an announcer could not keep himself from commenting on the bogus calls. Watching James drop to the floor in dramatic fashion and roll around the floor with anguish on his face, you would have thought he just got hit with a bat. His overreaction to a shove received by Tyson Chandler exemplified what he is: a dramatic pre-Madonna, far from being the great Jordan or even a Kobe Bryant. Neither Jordan nor Bryant ever dared roll around the court like a child throwing a tantrum because they are men.
       
  See this and decide for yourself: http://youtu.be/vOdfq5oFRlY 

    I agree the league has grown soft over the last few years and the Heat is considered the favorite to win it all but Come On Refs! Let them play basketball! It’s playoff basketball!! A simple shove almost got Chandler ejected because they thought Lebron was seriously injured. Seriously?! After a review of the replay the refs still didn’t realize what the whole world already knows; James is a flop artist. Come on, play the game right! Where is your competitive spirit? Where’s your honor as a man?
    Game two was another disaster but this time it was the bad play of the Knicks that got them in trouble. Game two showed their lack of chemistry as a team, one that was just assembled this year and had no pre-season to develop that chemistry. In game two the Knicks did play much better than in game one but they still didn’t have enough. Shumpert, their best perimeter defender was out due to a lateral meniscus tear and will be out for the next six to eight months. Chandler was still trying to recover from four days of not being able to retain anything in his stomach except for the I.V. intake. Davis hasn’t and probably will not be 100% for the remainder of the playoffs. Melo and Amare are still trying to figure it out and Lin is still out, recovering from knee surgery. And to add insult to injury, at the end of the game on the way to the locker room Amare punched the glass encasement of a fire extinguisher further extending the number of injured Knicks. Then the speculation began: Amare can’t co-exist with Melo. It’s not going to work, it was doomed from the beginning, Amare should be traded. Really? First off, Amare and Melo have not even had the chance to play a whole regular season together. Nor have they had any real kind of practice time to mesh together. They haven’t had a real off-season to work on their game together. And the time they have had on the court together has been minimal due to all the injuries they have both suffered. There are definitely no excuses in the game of basketball or any sport for that matter but look at the teams that have won championships. Those teams have been together for years before they get there. Even when the Celtics assembled their big three, their role players had already been there for a while so the chemistry was already there. I’m a firm believer of practice makes perfect and until the Knicks have had enough practice time to mesh and gone through a full regular season, you can’t judge or speculate that two players of the magnitude of Amare and Melo can’t play together. One thing is for sure Melo and Amare you have to get it done!