Knicks V Heat Article

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Today Knicks take on the classy Heat.

Heat who were once rivals on the Knicks, are now one of the best teams in the league, while Knicks will be lucky to get another 5wins this season


Interesting Article here - http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/09/sports/basketball/09knicks.html

or for those who dont have access

It is one of the cruel realities of the Knicks' woeful season that even the rare moments of joy are followed by a bitter aftertaste.

They skipped off the Delta Center floor late Monday night with a slump-busting 102-99 overtime victory over the Utah Jazz. Stephon Marbury whooped and shouted and slapped hands with teammates, and the Knicks basked in the glory of only their third victory since Dec. 29.

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Yet the fit of bliss would be short-lived, tempered by the knowledge of what comes next.

The Miami Heat - a former Knicks rival, now playing in another stratosphere - visits Madison Square Garden tonight.

"Yeah," Coach Herb Williams said Monday night, "I know exactly what's waiting for us."

Given how rough the ride has been, Williams said, he would enjoy the victory over Utah, "then we're going to worry about the one on Wednesday - probably halfway home on the plane."

Somewhere over Iowa, the Knicks started to fret over Shaquille O'Neal and Dwyane Wade.

Contending with the Heat, the Eastern Conference's top team at 36-14, is difficult enough. But as the Knicks gaze across the court tonight, they will also be reminded of their shortcomings and their legacy of poor leadership.

Five years after their last playoff meeting, the former rivals are now in different universes.

Miami stripped down and rebuilt, swung a trade for O'Neal last summer and could contend for the championship in June. The Knicks patched up their roster with overpaid veterans, let their payroll balloon and will be fortunate just to make the playoffs.

It was not so long ago that the Heat and the Knicks were Atlantic Division rivals and Eastern Conference powers. They met in the playoffs four straight springs, from 1997 to 2000.

They fought memorable battles, sometimes with their fists. They brawled in 1997, after Miami's P. J. Brown flipped the Knicks' Charlie Ward. The next year, Larry Johnson exchanged punches with the Heat's Alonzo Mourning, setting off a melee that ended, comically, with Jeff Van Gundy, then coach of the Knicks, clinging to Mourning's leg.

The incidents were viewed darkly at the time. But from where the Knicks stand now - at 19-29 and going nowhere - the fisticuffs and suspensions seem like the good old days.

"It was fun; it was very competitive," Kurt Thomas said. "We enjoyed going to Miami, too."

But it is a rivalry no more.

Age and neglect began eroding both teams' rosters in 2001, and they plunged in the standings. Realignment took the Heat out of the Atlantic Division this season. Thomas and Allan Houston are the only players left from the late 1990's. The only Van Gundy on the court tonight will be Stan, brother of Jeff and coach of the Heat.

But the greatest impediment to a rivalry revival is the disparity in talent. While the Knicks wander the depths of the Eastern Conference, Miami is enjoying a fantastic resurgence.

"They were fortunate enough to get the big fella," Thomas said, referring to O'Neal. "If Shaq would have came to New York, you never know how you'd be writing the story now."

Thomas is correct, but he misses the larger truth: the Heat, stocked with young talent, had the means to trade for O'Neal. The Knicks did not.

Their divergent paths provide a good lesson in N.B.A. economics and the art of rebuilding.

The Knicks tried retooling on the fly, trading the aging star Patrick Ewing in a four-team blockbuster in 2000. The deal landed them Glen Rice, Luc Longley and Travis Knight, among others, and began a toxic cycle of flawed decisions. Rice, who arrived with declining skills, was later traded to Houston; the Knicks received Howard Eisley and Shandon Anderson and their burdensome contracts in the three-team deal.

Even losing did not pay dividends for the Knicks. They were in the draft lottery twice, but in 2002 they traded the No. 7 pick, Nenê, to the Denver Nuggets for the oft-injured Antonio McDyess; in 2003 they drafted Mike Sweetney with the No. 9 pick, hoping he could blossom into a star.

While the Knicks were compounding their payroll problems with journeymen, the Heat began moving in a more constructive direction.

Miami weathered Mourning's health problems and eventually let him walk away. The Heat also parted with the aging, highly paid veterans Tim Hardaway, Dan Majerle and Anthony Mason. Miami suffered in the results but spent its lottery picks well, taking Caron Butler at No. 10 in 2002 and Wade at No. 5 in 2003.

By allowing free agents to leave, the Heat also cleared enough salary-cap space to sign Lamar Odom to a six-year, $65 million contract in 2003. Behind Odom, Butler and Wade, the Heat advanced to the second round of the playoffs last spring.

Two months later, Odom and Butler were the key pieces in the trade that sent O'Neal to South Beach. It was the crowning achievement for Pat Riley, the Heat president and former Knicks coach.

"We rebuilt the team in two years," said Riley, who was recently in New York for an event sponsored by Associated Black Charities. "I had to strip it all the way down to nothing and get under the cap.

"We signed 45 minimum contracts over those two and a half years, just to try to be competitive. We won 36 and 25 games. We were very fortunate to get Caron Butler, Dwyane Wade, Lamar Odom, and they all turned into Shaquille O'Neal. I feel blessed that I could move on from coaching into the front office and have a good team."

Riley was still coaching Miami when the Knicks eliminated the Heat in three straight postseasons. It could be some time before they meet again in the playoffs. But it would seem that Riley has had the last laugh.

Joe Brescia contributed reporting for this article.