NBA Playoffs 2012: New York Knicks Have Bounce-Back Potential Under Mike Woodson

The Miami Heat (1-0) and New York Knicks (0-1) will continue their best-of-seven Eastern Conference playoff series on Monday night at American Airlines Arena, with the opening tip scheduled for 7:00 p.m. ET.

Las Vegas oddsmakers have established the Heat as 9.5-point favorites, which is just a half-point higher than the betting odds in their resounding 100-67 home victory on Saturday. The total has moved down a full point to settle in at 184.

Miami was led by star forward LeBron James offensively in the series opener, hitting 10 of 14 shots from the field and adding 11 points at the charity stripe to finish with a game-high 32 points. He also managed to tie his personal best during the postseason with four steals.

The Heat have now won all four games versus the Knicks in 2011-12, including all three regular season meetings. Total players will find that the "under" is 7-0-1 in the last eight games in the overall series.

New York tied its playoff low in scoring since the shot-clock era in defeat, as All-Star forward Carmelo Anthony finished with just 11 points, but he did manage to grab a team-high 10 rebounds.

The Knicks shouldn't be written off in Game 2 due to their ability to bounce back under interim head coach Mike Woodson, with the franchise winning all six games following a loss under his direction since the resignation of Mike D'Antoni on March 14.

Sports bettors will find that the Knicks are 16-5 against the spread (ATS) following a straight up loss, while the "over" is 8-3 in that situation.

I definitely suggest taking the points, especially with the Heat being 10-18 ATS as a home favorite of 9.5 to 12 points since the start of the 2009-10 season.