Heat Look Forward to Facing New Look Knicks in Renewed Rivalry

LeBron James isn't ready to call it a rivalry. Most of the media have already declared it so, especially once Carmelo Anthony came into the picture. But with only a few teams in the East with realistic chances of making a deep playoff run, the Miami Heat may have no choice but to embrace a reunion between two teams with plenty of shared history.

"We know the Heat and Knicks rivalry is way beyond our years," said James, who was only 16 the last time these two teams faced each other in the postseason with the likes of Alonzo Mourning, Patrick Ewing, Tim Hardaway and Allan Houston battling it out. "It basically started with the departure of the man upstairs coming down here and leaving New York."

The path James and that man upstairs, Pat Riley, took to Miami are quite similar in both the abrupt manner they left their former teams and the subsequent firestorm of controversy it set off. While James is aware of the bad blood between the two franchises, he hasn't forgotten that it's also been a decade since they faced off in meaningful games.

"First of all, rivalries don't start until you have a playoff series or two," said James. "But we'll welcome it back, we have no problem with bringing that old rivalry back and making it fun like it has been in the past."

Dwyane Wade arrived in Miami a few years after the Knicks began their decline into perennial lottery team status but has had his fair share of battles with them in the regular season, including a 55 point performance on April 12, 2009. Though the Knicks haven't won in Miami for almost three years, Wade is excited to see if they are truly a competitive adversary.

"It would be great," he said. "Rivalries are rivalries because of the competition and because of teams winning on other teams' home courts. It's going to be a battle for many years with Amar'e and Melo. We ain't going anywhere and they're not going anywhere. As competitors I'm sure they're looking forward to it and we're going to look forward to it for many years to come."

According to Wade, if the Knicks want to reach the level of the Heat, Boston Celtics and the Chicago Bulls they need to focus on their biggest perceived weakness.

"Defense wins championships," said the 2006 NBA Finals MVP. "Bringing in guys like Chauncey (Billups) is a start and is somebody who is going to demand defensive toughness. They're building their team right now and I'm sure they're going to add some guys that complement (Anthony and Stoudemire) on both ends of the floor."

For the time being, the Heat must focus on the game at hand for the final matchup of the season series that Miami leads 2-1. Now that the Knicks appear certain to make it to the postseason for the first time in seven years, the game serves as a preview for a potential playoff series. Heat forward Chris Bosh explained what his team is anticipating from a team that now has two players who are capable of scoring at will.

"I think first, just handling the transition," he explained. "We know that they want to run and get quick shots so we want to get back and make them play against our half-court defense as much as possible. We know they still have three-point threats.

"We just have to make sure we go out there and play our style of basketball."

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