This is how the NBA schedule-makers envisioned Saturday night’s Heat-Knicks rendezvous:
The Night before the New York/New Jersey Super Bowl. The Knicks on a four-game winning streak. Carmelo Anthony on a record-setting tear. The Heat and LeBron James hungry for redemption after losing at the Garden three weeks ago.
A potential playoff preview on 33rd Street and Eighth Avenue.
Except there’s something awry with the script. The potential playoff matchup between the Heat and Knicks likely is going to take place in the first round, not in the Eastern Conference Finals.
Oh, well. The Knicks’ season hasn’t gone close to expected as they take a 19-27 record into Saturday’s showdown, trailing the Bobcats by a game for the eighth — and final — playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. But the game still has cachet because of the Knicks’ recent hot streak and a celebrity-studded Garden crowd ready for a diversion before the Broncos-Seahawks Super Bowl.
“It’s fun to play in the Garden again — obviously there’s going to be a lot of buzz in the city,’’ Dwyane Wade told reporters after Miami’s practice Friday. “Us coming to town, it’s not a mistake we’re playing the day before the Super Bowl in the Garden. It’s going to be a great game from that standpoint and they’re playing very well, so it will be a good challenge for us.”
The Knicks would want to avoid the Heat in the first round in April, but likely would have to slide up to the sixth seed to do so. A 2-vs.-7 Heat-Knicks matchup appears possible, with the No. 1 Pacers leading the Heat (32-13) by three games.
The Knicks beat Miami 102-92 on Jan. 9, playing without center Tyson Chandler. The Knicks have Chandler back, but are still injury-ravaged. However, one of those injuries hasn’t seemed to damage the Knicks, with Andrea Bargnani’s absence looking like an addition by subtraction.
The Knicks are 4-0 since Bargnani tore his elbow. They were able to go back to last season’s small-ball lineup that puts Anthony back at power forward and has coach Mike Woodson again starting two point guards in Raymond Felton and Pablo Prigioni. The chemistry is better.
“We adjusted,’’ Anthony said. “Guys stepped up to the challenge. The bigs off the bench are playing well, especially Jeremy Tyler. The small lineup, I really like. I have no problem with that and we have had success with that. It seems to be working right now.’’
“The most important thing we didn’t do was point fingers. When you point fingers through tough times, it crumbles everything. Everyone had to man up and face that adversity.’’
The Knicks “held’’ James to 32 points in the previous meeting, limiting him in the final minutes.
“Any time you play against a team that you lost to, that factors into your mind of seeing things that you can do well that you can implement into the next game,’’ James said. “They’ve been playing some good basketball as of late. Tim Hardaway Jr. has given them some good minutes. Even a guy like Jeremy Tyler coming off the bench now is playing well. Tyson didn’t play last game, but we know what he’s capable of doing and we know how important he is to their team, especially defensively.”
The Knicks, who have beaten Miami four of the past five meetings, have scored 119, 110, 114 and 117 points during the Bargnani-free streak.
Anthony, who scored a Knicks — and Garden — record 62 points in the first game without Bargnani, is playing at an extraordinarily high level at both ends, J.R. Smith looks as if his knees and attitude have healed, Hardaway has been a rookie revelation and Felton is running the show with a new purpose, with Chandler his pick-and-roll sidekick.
“I’m doing a great job coming off screen and rolls and finding guys and everybody’s shooting with confidence,’’ Felton said. “The defense sucks in and someone will be open. They don’t want to let Tyson get those lobs.’’
The biggest concern Saturday is possibly not having guard Iman Shumpert, who is questionable with a shoulder sprain, to defend either Wade or James.
“It has to be a team effort,’’ Chandler said of defending the Heat. “If [Shumpert’s] playing or not, we’re not going to match those guys defensively as individuals. It has to be a team concept, swarm in on them, send them to traffic and make them take long jump shots and limit them to one [shot].’’