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

The Atlantic Divison's JPoints

Here you go, Dave. Ask and you shall receive. Here's the current picture in the NBA's Atlantic Division, in terms of wins and losses:

1. Philadelphia (10-4) (0.714 Win%) (0.388 Strength of Schedule)
2. New York (6-8) (0.429 Win%) (0.403 SOS)
3. Boston (5-8) (0.386 Win%) (0.442 SOS)
4. New Jersey (4-11) (0.267 Win%) (0.524 SOS)
5. Toronto (4-11) (0.267 Win%) (0.508 SOS)

And here's the current picture in terms of offensive efficiency:

1. Boston (37.3 JPoint)
2. Philadelphia (36.2 JPoint)
3. New Jersey (35.4 JPoint)
4. New York (34.5 JPoint)
5. Toronto (33.0 JPoint)