Not time to panic. Not after two games. (The season just started, remember?) But yes, those were two ugly games, and some alarm is understandable given the losses represented a significant carryover of some notable issues from the end of last season.

Instead, the Heat set the pace and after a closely fought half where Dwayne Wade had a relatively modest impact, they steamrolled the Knicks in every aspect of the game and led by over 30 points before "settling" for a 22 point win. Usually, the quotes after a game like this consist of "next game fellas"-type platitudes, but even amidst the cliches, Al Harrington had the most adequate summary of this debacle:

There were several issues of concern right off the bat, watching this team on both offense and defense, that carried over to the game against the Bobcats...and that threaten to be season-long issues.  I'll address those at the end of this piece.  As far as this specific game, the bright spots were Lee and Gallinari. Gallo missed his first four shots (all three pointers), but ended up 7-13 on 3 pointers and scored 22 points.  The rest of the Knicks, though, missed 23 of their 26 threes, and the team ended up at 10-39 from the 3 point line...very, very bad.

For the Heat, Wade overcame a slow start and was instrumental in engineering the blowout in the 3rd quarter, but most impressive were Jermaine O'Neal (22 points on 12 shots, 12 rebounds, 4 assists)  and Michael Beasley (21 points on 14 shots). Beasley still doesn't do much on the boards, but he looked far more active and aggressive on both ends of the floor, and made the Heat's perimeter defense positively stifling in the second half. 

Old friend Q-Rich looked pretty decent with his slimmed-down figure and had a couple of baskets in the Heat's big 3rd quarter, but to my eyes, the best Heat lineup featured Beasley at small forward and Haslem at power forward, with Wade and Chalmers as guards and O'Neal in the middle. The Knicks were overwhelmed by the athleticism of this group and quickly devolved into self-pity (with predictable results) when they weren't getting shots to fall.

This was a more disheartening loss in many ways, even though it was more competitive and featured one of those quick lead-obliterating comebacks that make D'Antoni teams so much fun to watch when things are going well.

This was another road game, and the Bobcats had just come off such a humiliating loss to the Celtics it made the Knicks' effort in their opener look downright inspirational -- so you expected the Cats would come out with plenty of fire. What was confounding was how flatly the Knicks came out, and how they seemed one step slow and hesitant on virtually every offensive possession in the first quarter.

Shots also continued not to fall -- open shots, contested shots, jumpers, layups, fastbreak opportunities, wild shots in traffic -- nothing was going in. And the wretched 3 point shooting continued for the better part of 3 quarters, as the team missed 18 of its first 20 3 pointers. 

Once again (but with better results), Gallo led the comeback as the Knicks wiped out a 73-55 lead and tied the score at 80-80. After missing 18 of the first 20 3 pointers, the team made 6 of their next 7, including 2 by Gallo and 2 by Jeffries. 

The team couldn't close it out, however, missing opportunities to win in regulation and the first overtime. Neither Charlotte or the Knicks seemed to want to win, and the first OT was a case study in offensive ineptitude with both teams combining to miss 17 of 22 shots, commit 5 turnovers, and score 12 points.

In the second overtime, the Knicks wore down, but gave themselves one more opportunity after Augustin missed two free throws and Duhon tied the game with seven seconds left on a driving layup. The Bobcats wisely decided not to call timeout and had Augustin drive the length of the floor, where he drew a mildly questionable foul on Harrington. It was the sort of foul that was frequently overlooked in the fourth quarter and both OT periods, and probably wouldn't have been called at the Garden. Augustin initiated contact and sold it well, though...made both free throws, and all the Knicks could manage with no timeouts left was a weak halfcourt fling by Gallinari.

The Bobcats played a spirited game, but unless they get considerably healthier, their season doesn't stand to be that much better than the Knicks'. Tyson Chandler, in particular, looked ghastly (the Hornets must be positively giddy at what they got for him), and Gerald Wallace was his typical hyperactive self, scoring 18 points on 4 for 20 shooting, with 15 rebounds. Ray Felton's line looked solid with 22 points, 8 rebounds and 9 assists, and he ended the game well (once the Cats figured out how to exploit the Knicks' constant switching), but in early stretches he looked like the worst guard on the floor. 

*  Any more questions about why Walsh pursued Jason Kidd and Grant Hill in the summer? I'm still glad they didn't get Kidd, but the leadership deficit on this team is significant. Chris Duhon finally tried to address this with some mildly provocative quotes after last night's game ("We lost this game before the game even started...a lot of us weren't taking the game serious -- joking around, not really preparing for the game, and it showed"), and he is a de facto leader if minutes played are any indication (playing 56 of 58 minutes).  But no player on this roster at present seems able to command the respect of everyone else and make the key shots when the team is struggling. Gallinari has that potential, but he's still rounding into game shape. Duhon is the closest thing, and his play has been spotty.

*  Gallinari looks like he will be the real thing eventually, and his shooting is already one of the best reasons to watch this team. He still looks weirdly stiff and tentative for someone who had a full recovery from back surgery -- when he was at 60 to 70 percent last year, even if his movement was robotic, there was a certain elan in his play and the way he tried to take over a game. For most of the exhibition season and these first two games, he seems restrained to a fault, to the point that the game seems to be going too fast for him. His play in the rally against the Bobcats was the best we've seen so far, not only with the 3 pointers, but also with a great up and under drive and a few passes off of penetration.

*  Nate Robinson looks lost, lost, and more lost. I mentioned this on twitter last night -- the Knicks need Nate to be the dynamo he was in the middle of last season when no one could stop him from getting his shot off in the lane. Toward the end of last season, Nate drifted into a weird funk where he seemed to stop driving the ball and settled for long jumpers. His play so far in the two games has unfortunately been a continuation of this funk: shooting 7 for 24, including 2 for 14 on 3 pointers, with 6 turnovers and 8 fouls. He finally had a couple of explosive drives late in the game, but there's a spark missing right now.

*  The team as a whole seems mired in exhibition or even summer league mode -- lots of hesitant play, poor shot selection, and bad decision making on offense and defense. This might just be the optimist in me rearing its ugly head again, but I've actually seen many positive signs -- commitment to ball movement, more effort on defense in stretches -- and the team is clearly trying. But it needs a spark, a confidence booster, some luck -- and if it didn't come against the Bobcats, it may take a while to come given the early schedule.

* Defense, which everyone loves to mock D'Antoni teams for, didn't look too awful outside of two really dreadful quarters (third quarter of game one, first quarter of game two). The team's low pressure on the perimeter and constant switching still raises eyebrows among defensive purists, but there are encouraging signs the players are communicating more and trying to be more mindful of assignments. David Lee, who I've been very hard on, has actually been using his hands more and anticipating better than I've ever remembered.

Unfortunately, there are still too many glaring breakdowns, and there always seems to come a point in games where opponents either effectively 1) find a favorable matchup of a guard against a taller Knick player and exploit the matchup to death 2) space themselves so that a diving player has a clear path to the basket after a screen and two or three Knick players will remain frozen staring at the play. Additionally, Nate and Al have a tendency to allow emotion from an offensive possession dictate how they play on the next defensive possession, which is fatal -- for this reason, I think D'Antoni is better served long term by having them come off the bench.

* I rarely comment on the coaching, because I've been one of D'Antoni's biggest fans and understand his tendencies and quirks, good and bad. Nothing has really surprised me so far in the year-plus that he has been coaching the Knicks, other than perhaps his increased flexibility with his renegade roster. It's been surprising to see some questionable decisions this early in the new season, though (waiting until the lead had gotten to 22 points to call a timeout against the Heat, playing Gallinari sparingly in the overtime periods and bringing him in on a defensive possession which turned against the Knicks). Maybe the coach is in exhibition mode too, but it's early enough that I trust him when he says he's trying to figure out what will work with such an odd roster.

Tonight it's the Sixers for the home opener, a team the Knicks match up poorly against and haven't beaten very much period, having lost 13 of the last 15. The Knicks' main hope will be the ability to get their shots to fall at the Garden, since the Sixers haven't historically done a great job of covering the three point line. Otherwise, it may get ugly, especially as the team is sure to be drained after playing 3 hours and two overtimes last night.