Knicks - Heat & All-Star Weekend Preview

You could say that the NBA's All-Star weekend actually starts with tonight's TNT games: Knicks @ Heat and Lakers @ Thunder. Those games will be more interesting than the All-Star game itself because they could end up being conference semifinal (or even conference final) matchups. Let's break that game, and the rest of the weekend festivities, down:

Part 1: Knicks vs. Heat

It's easy to break this game down into smaller matchups, and that's exactly what I'm going to do.

Backcourt
New York: Jeremy Lin, JR Smith, Baron Davis, Landry Fields, Iman Shumpert, Bill Walker
Miami: Dwyane Wade, Mario Chalmers, Norris Cole, Mike Miller, James Jones
Edge: New York
Dwyane Wade is the best shooting guard in the game. But the Heat have no depth at the guard positions. All of the Knicks listed could go off for 20 points and 10 assists and nobody would be that surprised - Dave touched on this yesterday. Maybe don't count Bill Walker in that group. But hey, you never know.

Frontcourt
New York: Carmelo Anthony, Amar'e Stoudemire, Tyson Chandler, Jared Jeffries, Steve Novak
Miami: LeBron James, Chris Bosh, Joel Anthony, Shane Battier, Udonis Haslem, Dexter Pittman
Edge: New York
Again, the Heat are stacked at the top of the order and then it tails off horribly. LeBron obviously is better than Melo. Stoudemire and Bosh are essentially a push. Chandler is better than anyone the Heat can put at center. Steve Novak can spread the floor for Lin, Anthony, and everyone else to get to the rim.

Based on the most basic of breakdowns, I'm taking the Knicks +9.5 in a heartbeat (odds from Bovada).

Part 2: All-Star Saturday

If Ray Allen Isn't An All-Star, I Will Be Mystified

Quote me: no shooting guard deserves to be an All-Star this season besides Ray Allen. Throwing out my whole excitement-dunking-alley oop-fast break theory for this one. The man is on a team with 4 really old guys, an All-Star caliber point guard, and a bench full of scrubs. And he's keeping them in contention (13-10, the 7 seed in the East if the season ended right now) almost single-handedly. Yes, Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett have contributed and Rajon Rondo has when he's been healthy, but no player in the NBA is more efficient than Ray Allen. His numbers for the season so far:

32.9 minutes, 14.7 points, 3.1 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 49.5% FG, 54.3% 3FG, 90.5% FT, 
46.2 JPoint

A JPoint of 46.2 for one game is above average. For 20+ games? Wow. Not only is he second in the NBA in 3-point percentage (behind Brandon Rush, who has attempted 60 threes to Allen's 92), but he's also number one in field goal percentage among shooting guards and is one of only six players shooting above 90% from the free throw line. 

NBA All-Star Game Reserve Picks

Last week, the fan voting results for the NBA All-Star starters were announced. A quick recap:

Eastern Conference

G Derrick Rose, CHI

G Dwyane Wade, MIA

F Lebron James, MIA

F Carmelo Anthony, NYK

C Dwight Howard, ORL

Western Conference

G Chris Paul, LAC

G Kobe Bryant, LAL 

F Kevin Durant, OKC

F Blake Griffin, LAC

C Andrew Bynum, LAL

I don't really know when the reserves are announced, but I can tell you how they are selected. Every coach gets to vote for the bench in his conference - 2 guards, 2 forwards, 1 center, and 2 wild cards - without voting for any of his own players. One new addition is the center position is very ambiguous - coaches can vote for any player who has played any center this season, because honestly there's not enough All-Star caliber centers to pick four. Here's who would be on my ballot, and let me just tell you that I think the only reason we should have an All-Star game is to entertain the fans (see: NFL Pro Bowl):