Mandatory Credit: Debby Wong-USA TODAY Sports

Who plays and who rests?

That’s the big question for this game (and for the rest of the regular season).  Last game against the Spurs, the Heat rested LeBron, Wade, and Chalmers.  In addition, Spoelstra has said that all players are day to day for the rest of the season, which means that with nine games left (six games at home) and a four game lead for the first overall seed (which would guarantee home court advantage for the playoffs), Spoelstra is probably going to be resting a bunch of players.

Erik Spoelstra said all Heat players are “day-to-day” for rest of season. Sorry ticket holders & bettors, going to be many late scratches

— Brian Windhorst (@WindhorstESPN) March 29, 2013

Looking at the game, the Knicks have a (2-1) record versus the Heat; consequently, the Knicks are one of three teams (Bulls and Pacers are the other teams) that have winning records against the Heat.  The Knicks’ success against the Heat stems largely from their three point shooting — they’ve been shooting at a robust 41.3% clip against the Heat.  Lots of threes means lots of rebounds, and if the Heat can actually rebound (they are last in the NBA in rebounds per game) that will help stymie the Knicks’ offense and prevent those critical second chance points.

Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

The third key to game, after three point shooting and rebounding, is J.R. Smith and Carmelo Anthony.  Both of those guys have a 30%+ usage rate so they are used a lot (relatively speaking) when they play.  How well the Heat defend Smith and Anthony will help dictate the flow of the game, and the Knicks effectiveness on offense.  For example,  the Knicks have a +/- of  +4.9 when Smith plays, and a +/- of +1.2 when he doesn’t, and the Knicks are +5.2 when Carmelo plays and +1.3 when he doesn’t.

Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

The game will be at American Airlines Arena in Miami and broadcast on TNT (8PM).

Injuries:

Tyson Chandler (Questionable)

Kurt Thomas, Amare Stoudamire, Rasheed Wallace (Out)

LeBron James, Dwayne Wade, Mario Chalmers (Questionable)

Highlights from last Heat vs. Knicks game:

In Cleveland, LeBron James was relied on for everything. If a game was on the line, Coach Mike Brown chose him to shoot the shot. But the thing is, even if LeBron deferred it in Cleveland, no one would have cared because he was the outright star and leader on that team, whatever he thought was best was the right choice. These days it doesn’t come that easy.

If people believe that LeBron has lost the ability to make a game-winning shot, they are crazy. Against the Jazz on Friday night, James went 8-9 in the 4th quarter with 17 points, but was largely criticized because of his decision to pass the ball to Udonis Haslem for the final shot of the game. If this were Cleveland, no one would have said a thing, but the fact that LeBron is now on a team with 2 All-Stars, the circumstances change.

So at the end of the day, I believe that playing with 2 All-Stars is what has held LeBron back. He is scared to take that last shot because he knows there are 2 other guys who are also capable of making that shot. If Udonis Haslem had been Mo Williams and there was no D-Wade on the court, it wouldn’t have been a big deal. LeBron does not want to let people down, it’s the story of his life. He was heartbroken that Cleveland decided to hate him and he feels the same way about letting his team down.

LeBron James is hands-down the best player in the NBA. He obviously has a ton of pressure on him and the media always takes shots at him. From the bike he rides to the game to his mom getting arrested to his house, the media obsesses with him. He is very self-conscious about his image and if he messed up, he’ll pay for it.

LeBron, you are the best player in the NBA. Please take the last shot. Chances are that it will go in and you will be the man. You are already the King, but why not add meaning to that name. This is what separates you, Jordan, and Kobe. Even if you miss, you tried and had the balls to take it.

For people to call LeBron “Scottie Pippen” or Robin (from Batman) is absurd. Scottie Pippen was never the front-runner for MVP and never was regarded as the best player in the NBA. So let’s throw all of that garbage out of the window. To be realistic, Dwyane is Scottie (sorry D-Wade) and Bosh is the scoring version of Horace Grant, while Udonis is the rebounding version of Dennis Rodman. LeBron is the best player in the NBA and once he starts knocking down that game-winning jumper and winning championships, there won’t be a debate anymore.