The Knicks Fix

Evening ladies and gents. (Hot) Rod Boone here live and in living color here at the World's Most Famous Arena. So here we are, about to start a new era of New York Knickerbockers basketball. Can you feel the excitement? Catch it.

It's the Knicks vs. Dwayne Wade and the Miami Heat. We'll see the debut of the guy taken No. 2 overall in June's draft, Michael Beasley. Rookie Mario Chalmers could get his first career (duh! he is a first-year player and this is the season opener) start at the point.

Wade's supposedly completely healthy and looked pretty good in the Olympics. Heard somewhere that he is eager to start the season at a place such as the Garden, so he might drop 30-plus tonight.

Will Chris Duhon prove D'Antoni's faith in him and get it done at PG? Will Danilo Gallinari make his Knicks debut? Will Stephon Marbury play significant minutes? Will Eddy Curry get off the bench? Who will hear the first boos of the season?

In a few hours, we'll have all the answers to those questions. Should be an interesting matchup. Be back to get the live blog chat cranked up in a sec. So getcha popcorn ready.

End of first quarter: Knicks 28, Heat 27.
Leading scorers: Knicks -- Crawford 13; Heat -- Wade 8
What's happening: Exciting start and Jamal Crawford, who looked lost in the preseason, is on fire. Nice energy level from the Knicks, but the Heat are matching it. Danilo Gallinari got some burn and missed both of his shots from the floor. Something to keep an eye on is rebounding. It has been a problem so far, and with the Knicks' lack of height for those in Mike D'Antoni's "circle" it's going to continue to be.

Halftime: Knicks 60, Heat 45.
Leading scorers: Knicks -- Crawford 17; Heat -- Wade 12.
What's happening: After falling behind 40-39, the Knicks ended the half on a 21-5 run to take a 15-point halftime advantage. Tell you what, the up tempo style has the fans buzzing. So does the play of Quentin Richardson. Q-Rich is being aggressive and is knocking down his shots. He's 4-for-6 and has 14 points, three rebounds and three assists. Zach Randolph, never one to pass up an open shot, is 4-for-9 from the floor and has 12 points.

End of third quarter: Knicks 91, Heat 75.
Leading scorers: Knicks -- Crawford 23; Heat -- Udonis Haslem 19.
What's happening: Can't believe I'm about to type this next sentence, but the Knicks are blowing out the Heat. Really blowing them out. Everything the Knicks are trying is working. They are moving the ball well, hitting open shots and playing unselfish ball. They are feeding off the crowd. This is about as good a start as D'Antoni could've asked for. Stephon Marbury hasn't pulled off his warmups and come into the game yet. The crowd chanted "We want Steph!" Doesn't look like he will get in. Bears watching.

Final: Knicks 120, Heat 115.
Leading scorers: Knicks -- Crawford 29; Heat -- Wade 26.
Final thoughts: Leave it to the Knicks to let the Heat back into it and scare the fans. Miami got within three points with less than a minute left, but the Knicks did just enough to hold on. If nothing else, the Knicks, as Crawford pointed out to the crowd after the pregame introductions, wanted to show the fans who've stuck with them through the last few dismal years that this is a new year and a new team. The Heat certainly aren't the Lakers and its roster is loaded with youthful players surrounding Wade. But winning the season/home opener and giving the fans something to cheer about is a step in the right direction -- even if it turned out to be much harder than it had to for a group that has to learn how to close out wins.

Your beloved bloghost will be around later to give his take on tonight's game, so come on back and check out what the King Fixer has to say.