The Knicks beat up on the lowly Charlotte Bobcats (now owners of the worst winning percentage in NBA history!) last night, locking up the seventh seed in the East and a date with the Miami Heat in the first round of the playoffs. And the team sounds very excited about it: “I like our chances against anyone,” Amare Stoudemire said. “I think every game we’ve played against Miami so far has been a tight one. So it’s really anybody’s game.” It's true that the Knicks—who've had at least seven different personalities this year—have been playing their best non-Linsanity basketball of the season the past three weeks (give or take a Cleveland stinker). But without a solid point guard, does the team really stand a chance against the big guns from South Beach?

Why is Stoudemire in particular so confident in the team? He thinks they have more depth than Miami: depth. “Our bench has been phenomenal for us all season long," he told the Post. "We’re a much better defensive team than we were before. We have so many threats offensively to match their offensive threats. So it’s pretty much even as far as our startling lineup and I think our second unit is a little bit stronger.’’

“I love it,’’ Iman Shumpert said about the Miami matchup. “I got a bad taste in my mouth from the last time . I felt we should’ve won the game. I’m looking forward to our team being at full strength. They say that’s the toughest opponent. We’re going to have to play them anyway. Why not play them in the first round? I’m not afraid of anyone.’ ‘

Coach Mike Woodson sounds confident as well: “Can we beat those teams? Absolutely,” he said, though he added that the team has lost all three regular season games against the Heat this year. “But we’ve just got to come mentally and physically ready to play 48 minutes. We haven’t put 48-minute ballgames together against the Miami team.” Veteran Baron Davis sounded much more realistic about the series: “At this point, the way the season has been going for us, everything is a challenge,” he said. “We’ve been having to adjust to so many different lineups and so many different injuries that we’re just going to go and give it our best shot.”

As far as we can tell, the Knicks look more and more like the Philadelphia 76ers of the early-00s, with Carmelo Anthony slotted in the Allen Iverson role, and a lot of very solid (if somewhat inconsistent) role players around him (including the dominating Tyson Chandler). If the Knicks want to win their first playoff game since 2001, here are a few keys to the series:

  • They need to slow down the Heat and control the tempo of the game. "Miami's a team that plays great getting turnovers, and they get out and run well," Stoudemire told ESPN. "So if we can contain our turnovers and contain their fast break, we've got a great chance to win. Half-court defensively, we're playing as one of the best in the league, but it's easier said than done. It's going to be a tough battle, regardless."
  • They need to keep LeBron James out of the paint: “He’s good enough to where he can hit those (outside) shots and it’s all for naught,” a scout told ESPN, “but I think the percentages say make him a perimeter shooter, a 3-point shooter.”
  • Milk those three-pointers. Between Steve Novak, Anthony and JR Smith, they are a legitimiate three-point threat for the first time in years. And they outscored Miami 102-30 from beyond the arc in their three regular season games this year.
  • Follow Chandler's lead on defense. He (along with Jared Jeffries and hard working Shumpert) turned the shoot-first Knicks around into a suddenly good defensive squad, and Chandler may very well end up being the defensive player of the year.

And hey, if the Knicks somehow are able to get past the Heat, Jeremy Lin might be back for round two! Playoffs kick off Saturday afternoon at 3:30 p.m. for the Knicks and Heat—while you're waiting, go ahead and look back over the team's best wins from this season here.