Feb. 27: Heat (-5.5, first half and -300 moneyline, first half) vs. Knicks.
In his first week with the Knicks, Carmelo Anthony had to go to South Beach to face the big bad Heat. Miami was the 10-point favorite in the game so if this thing got a little ugly in favor of the home side, it wouldn't be all that surprising.
And it did get a bit ugly as LeBron and the boys started to flex their muscles. Chris Bosh made a jump shot with 4:27 left in the first half, extending the Heat lead to a whopping 51-36. If you can't add, that's a 15-point lead.
So if you took the Heat, you'd only lose if the Knicks -- in four minutes -- could outscore James, Wade, Bosh and Miami by 10 points for the bet against the spread and by 16 points in terms of the moneyline.
"No chance and good luck to that" is about all that could be said.
With 3:52 left until the half, Wade missed a three that would've made the lead 18. But it really shouldn't have mattere for the first half, right? I mean, this thing was pretty much sealed and in the bag -- 15, 18, whatever. It's the Heat at home with the Big Three against the Knicks, and Miami was up huge with little time left in the second quarter.
Or not.
Somehow that 15-point advantage disappeared as the Knicks ended the half on a 16-0 run. That 16-0 run ended with Bill Walker's banking in a three-pointer as time expired, and it was 'Melo, Amare Stoudemire and the New Yorkers that actually led at the break, 52-51.
All we can say is, "Wow!"
