Tuesday night's NBA schedule says Knicks at Heat. This simple schedule listing has several meanings depending on whether you like to live in the past, look to the future, or multitask and do both at once, which is what we're about to do now.
If you happen to remember the NBA in the late-'90s (and how awesome much of it was compared to today), the Knicks and the Heat was an all-out war zone. The teams and the fans hated each other and with good reason. The two teams were tied together by a series of fascinating links and subplots.
Coach Pat Riley spurned the Knicks to go to a rebuilding Miami franchise, then openly welcomed the boos from the Garden fans upon his return. Riley assistant Jeff Van Gundy became the Knicks coach, while brother Stan Van Gundy became Riley's new assistant in Miami. Patrick Ewing was a star Georgetown center before Alonzo Mourning became a star Georgetown center, thus making Ewing the aging master and Mourning the up-and-coming protégé. Mourning also was the ex-teammate of Knicks forward Larry Johnson. The former 1-2 punch of the early-'90s Charlotte Hornets were now on opposing sides. John Starks was a loose cannon. Tim Hardaway loved to talk trash and add verbal fuel to the fire. Charles Oakley was an enforcer. The teams employed near-identical hard-nosed defensive styles. The list went on and on. It was just that good.
Every year of this 1990s rivalry, the Heat would have one of the best records in the East, appearing to be one of the league's few elite teams, ready to contest for a championship. While the Knicks failed to reach that level of consistency or dominance in the regular season, it seemed as if every playoff game between the two teams came down to the bitter end.
These bitter ends fueled the fire like few other rivalries. P.J. Brown flipped Charlie Ward into a row of photograhpers. Tim Hardaway knocked out the Knicks all by himself in a Game 7. Allan Houston tipped in a last-second shot only to have the refs incorrectly wave it off. Larry Johnson and Alonzo Mourning traded wild (and empty swings) until Jeff Van Gundy somehow ended up attached to Mourning's ankle. Houston got poetic justice with a fortuitous game-winner off the top of the backboard. Tim Hardaway hit a three-point buzzer beater while draped in a sweater made of Chris Childs. Anthony Carter flipped in an illegal shot over the top of the backboard to win a playoff game. Clarence Weatherspoon bricked a series-deciding shot in a seventh game that he never should have been allowed to take. The list went on and on. It was just that good.
All of this enmity has gone up in smoke in the decade that has passed in between. The Knicks franchise has fallen off the map, only to finally be on the way to returning to relevance, while the Heat were fortunate enough to draft Dwyane Wade, acquire Shaq for a few years, and win that elusive first championship with, yes, the hated Pat Riley as the head coach.
Now the Heat have perhaps the game's greatest talent in LeBron James, who led many to believe for years that he would go to New York once his contract ended, only to reject them for the Heat to join a seemingly unstoppable power trio with Wade and Chris Bosh. Suddenly, once again, there's reason, at least on one side, for there to be hostility again.
Once LeBron aligned with Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade, the trio was expected to instantly take over the world. Instead, they spent the first month of the season floundering in an unacceptable mediocrity. With statement blowout wins over the Pistons and LeBron's old buddies, the Cavaliers, they found their swagger and went from doubtful to dominant seemingly overnight. This culminated with a 15-point win at Staples Center against the defending champs on Christmas night. Suddenly, one has to call into question who the best team in the NBA really is.
The Knicks failed to get LeBron, but in settling for Amare Stoudemire, they suddenly saw a young unproven nucleus come together. Unknowns like Raymond Felton and Landry Fields suddenly began letting their talents take over with Stoudemire as their main muscle. These are not the aforementioned defensive-minded Knicks of that famed '90s rivalry, though. Under coach D'Antoni, they run teams ragged and score in the 110s frequently. Stoudemire scores a ton, but draws criticism about his defense.
Despite this, New York won 8 straight games at one point and got off to their best start since the Ewing era. Not only that, but talks of a trade for Nuggets star Carmelo Anthony have persisted all season long. Suddenly, greatness seems in reach for the once-beleaguered Knicks.
The Celtics were the team that snapped the Knicks' 8-game winning streak, with a Paul Pierce fadeaway with only tenths of a second left. The team still appeared to be playing well until Miami followed with a 22-point thumping at the Garden. The Knicks sputtered into Cleveland and suffered an embarrassing overtime loss before regrouping to win their last two games against the formidable Thunder and Bulls. At the moment, the Knicks are a wild card and few of us know exactly what they are capable of night to night. We just know that when they do play well, they do it with an excitement that can once again capture the excitement of the New York area.
And so here we are for Tuesday night. New York at Miami. The two most fascinating teams and stories in the league today going head-to-head. The stage is set. Now if only some of their future battles can start to live up to the glory of their past ones.
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