The Miami Heat finally at Madison Square Garden, a sea of orange around them in what looked like a playoff game. Maybe that's all it took to get to their best on the road.
LeBron James had 29 points and added 10 rebounds, Dwyane Wade 28 points and nine boards, and the heat overcame Carmelo Anthony had 42 points, beat the New York Knicks 93-85 on Sunday to win the South Division title East.
Originally planned to be here in November, only the heat of the regular season game in New York came up with the regular season winds compressed - and with luck they'll be back soon.
"This is obviously a lot of our favorite places to play, but I think it came at the right time for us," said Wade. "We were in trouble, like to play a full game on the road, and come what better place and then focus here, where the team played well and can get you in trouble if you do not play your game. So understanding that this course be a first round match and I think today we have arrived we have not played unbelievable, but he played well enough to win the match. We have done many good things, so it was a good time to do it. "
Chris Bosh finished with 16 points and 14 rebounds for the Heat, which pulled away in the fourth quarter from a survey of the playoffs as possible. Miami is the second in the Eastern Conference and the Knicks tied the game came at the seventh, but they fell behind Philadelphia for the loss.
Anthony had only two baskets in the fourth quarter, perhaps tired of playing, 43 minutes, and defend with James Anthony Shane Battier after the change has been overwhelmed. New York had picked up his series of nine home winning streak.
Anthony had the Knicks are hoping he could get another game against a team of power after scoring a season high 43 on Sunday in overtime against Chicago. His advice gave New York a lead of two points with 9 1/2 minutes, but when he had his other field goal on a 3-points with 1:28 left, Miami had opened a 11-point cushion.
"It was all a blur. I do not even know what happened. It just happens so fast. They made some tough shots on target the last two minutes of the game, the last six minutes of the game," said Anthony. "We could not make plans. We had some good looks. You can not have. You do not let them."
JR Smith scored 16 points for the Knicks, who lost all three games against the Heat. Still without the injured Amare Stoudemire and Jeremy Lin, New York does not have the firepower to match Miami's Big Three for 48 minutes.
Wade moved slightly and shot 10 of 18 after missing the last game to rest on his ankle. Miami won two consecutive losses after back-to-back last week against Boston and Chicago.
"We had some defensive stops in Chicago, but could not close," said James. "Tonight we were able to get some shots from the floor and then come back down and some great saves."
Despite their talent, have not measured the heat on the streets in recent weeks, perhaps the biggest concern about them in the section playoffs. You are only 17 to 13 from Miami and had not beaten a team with a winning record in nearly a month.
"It's a question of endurance, and while they remain with her," said Bosh. "We know we are a team high road, we go out and prove it night and into the night and I think we will do a better job and continue to play well, and I hope it will give us some momentum. "
Miami takes about nine-point leads to the third, but the Knicks cut it to three by the end of the period, then I got a 3-pointer coupling of Steve Novak to open the fourth and Landry Fields followed with a basket to make New York before the first minute.
It was close for the next six minutes before James Wade and Joel Anthony tipped to build bridges in a miss, a wave of six straight points that gave a lead of 87-80 in Miami. The Knicks, on the basis of most of the drivers of the game, just could not hit anything, and there was a lot of presence inside when Tyson Chandler was published by a sore knee after landing awkwardly slow in the third quarter.
Chandler said that he was injured on a "bad fall", but should play Tuesday against Boston.
"I could not move when I got there," he said. "I have not much force on them. To move sideways, trying to get on the ball screen is difficult."
The heat was scheduled to play their game of the season here in the original 82-game schedule that was scrapped because of the lockout. They also have here in a revised 72-game season, which have never purchased if the owners could not open and the players agree on a new agreement with the times.
Instead, they ended up as the last team in the Eastern Conference visit to Madison Square Garden, site of many fierce playoff between the teams in the 1990s.
He had worn a look playoffs Sunday with orange shirts of fans around the yard - but not sitting by Jay-Z and Beyonce Courtside.
Only the heat of the playoffs looked ready to go. The Knicks missed their first three free throws and Miami led by as many as 11 in the first quarter before he was for a 29-22 advantage, which would have been much higher if not for Anthony have 14 points.
Miami won in the second quarter, Wade hit the ball on the ground in frustration after a basket as the Knicks, their reserves and Anthony gathered before the Heat took a 46-44 advantage at halftime.
"At first I thought we were a bit nervous because we wanted to play so well out of the box, and we did not. But when we back in the game, I really thought we played a nice rhythm in the second quarter, in return, "said interim coach Mike Woodson. "In the third quarter, I thought we had nothing offensively, then on the home stretch we do not know."
The heat had a brief scare in the third when James went to twisting the ankle when he stepped back into some fans after hitting a jumper corner. He stayed for a while, but he remained in the game after a certain time.
Notes: Wade played in his 594th game with the Heat, Alonzo Mourning of the record. ... Heat have a short trip before you meet again on Monday, heading into the Hudson River to New Jersey Nets. ... Both were former Knicks center inactive Miami: Ronny Turiaf and Eddy Curry. Coach Erik Spoelstra said the Heat wanted more time to give to rest a sore tendon. ... Jared Jeffries played in the second half after three stitches needed to close a cut on his chin.
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