NBA Playoffs 2012: Knicks' Roller Coaster Ride Nothing New in Loss to Miami Heat

It's been the story all season: The New York Knicks have been on a roller coaster ride of bad play and ugly losses followed by great play and even better wins. There has been no such thing as a middle ground.

In Game 1 of the opening round of the NBA playoffs, the Knicks found themselves on ride's downhill when the Miami Heat simply crushed them to take a 1-0 series lead.

New York is no stranger to horrific and inconsistent play—this is the same team who accounted for one of the six lowly wins the Charlotte Bobcats managed to squeeze out during their record-breakingly  terrible season.

Even under coach Mike Woodson, it's been about the same story.

The only difference is the Knicks haven't had one of the losing streaks that the team endured under former coach Mike D'Antoni. Granted, there's a first time for everything, but at least Knicks fans can hang their hat on that after being embarrassed in Game 1.

You can list everything that went wrong in this game (foul calls, injuries, Lebron James), but it still doesn't erase the fact that the Knicks played terribly and certainly not on the level of a championship-caliber team like the Heat.

No doubt, New York has played well enough at times this year to compete and beat a team like Miami.

However, the question always remains: which Knicks team will show up?

Is this the beginning of another long descent on the Knick rollercoaster or is this another instance of an inconsistent team that has a chance to recover?

Despite how bad this loss was, it's still only one game.

Nobody in their right mind would've believed the Knicks could win both games in Miami. But all they need to do is win one and they still have a chance to do so.

We'll see if the Knicks show up to seize that opportunity.