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The Miami Dream Team couldn’t be playing Broadway at a better, more appropriate time.
With the Knicks’ 103-65 humiliation of the Wizards last night, they host the Heat tomorrow for a frenzied Garden matinee and a preview of the first round of the playoffs if the season ended today.
Their butchering of the Wizards and the 76ers’ home loss to the Nets launched the Knicks into seventh place in the Eastern Conference — they now line up against the Heat in a 2-vs.-7 matchup. The Knicks and Sixers have the same record at 31-28, but Mike Woodson’s team owns the tiebreaker.
So bring on the Heat in a potential playoff preview, Miami’s first visit this season to the Garden, where Woodson is 9-0 as head coach (13-4 overall). The Knicks lost twice to the Heat earlier this season in Miami, both under Mike D’Antoni, but Woodson thinks the Knicks have an edge at the Garden.
“I’m hoping so, absolutely,’’ Woodson said. “We’ve been playing well here at home. It’s going to take a great 48-minute ballgame. [The Heat are] a great team. I thought they dominated us when we were there. The games were fairly close in stretches, but their defense overshadowed our defense. That was the difference. We’re a lot better defensively.’’
They certainly are when Iman Shumpert is healthy. But in the only bad moment of last night’s slaughter, Shumpert sprained his left ankle in the third quarter and did not return. He is questionable for tomorrow’s game.
Shumpert limped out of the locker room, but tried to remain optimistic that he would play. He’s a key as he likely will draw LeBron James and see some time on Dwyane Wade.
Shumpert sounded better than he looked.
“In my head, I think I’m playing,’’ Shumpert said. “I’ll know [today], I guess. They said day-to-day. I’m walking around. I think I’ll be alright.’’
J.R. Smith will likely get James if Shumpert can’t go.
“It’s another big game for us, another exciting game,’’ said Carmelo Anthony, who scored 18 points in 27 minutes. “The Garden will be rocking. Everybody will be watching. What better game than to play on a Sunday against Miami.’’
There was little drama last night, though the fans kept busy by chanting “47’’ — the point total the Wizards were stuck on for the first four minutes of the final period as the Knicks built a 43-point bulge.
The Knicks held the Wizards to 65 — the lowest point total they have allowed since 2008 — and without a field goal for 12:20 of the second half.
“The crowd chanting ‘47,’ that’s good defense on our part,’’ Landry Fields said. “We didn’t take them lightly despite their record.’’
The trap game never materialized as the Knicks led 26-13 after one period. The king of the game was ailing Baron Davis, who on his 33rd birthday scored a season-high 18 points on John Wall. He made 7 of 9 shots, including 4 of 5 from 3-point range, despite carrying his multitude of nagging injuries from neck to knee.
Davis was in a delightful mood afterward as his teammates razzed him for Wall’s lone highlight — a ferocious dunk on Davis in the second half.
“He looked good,’’ Anthony said. “He got his birthday present. He got dunked on.”
The giddiness will turn into stone-cold seriousness today as the Knicks prepare for LeBron coming to town. This is a Knicks bunch the Heat have not seen yet.
“It’s the confidence we have right now in everybody, all the guys, on the team,’’ said Anthony. “[Last night] was a confidence booster. Hopefully [tomorrow], it’s a big game and we’ll be ready.’’
The Knicks held the Wizards to 28 percent shooting as their defense keeps improving.
“I think we understand the balance a little better,’’ said center Tyson Chandler, a Defensive Player of the Year candidate. “I think first two times we played them we didn’t understand floor balance and didn’t know what we wanted to accomplish out there. We’re playing as unit and with great energy.’’
Many scouts think the Knicks are better off against the Bulls because they have Shumpert as a Derrick Rose stopper. Even Jared Jeffries said Rose’s injury situation made the Bulls more delectable.
“I still think the Bulls,” Jeffries said on ESPN radio. “Whenever you can have an MVP candidate or former MVP player be out on the team, I think that’s what you’ve got to go for. I mean, they’re still playing very well without him, but I’m not sure over a seven-game series they can keep that high level of playing without Derrick Rose.”