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Here we meet again

Round one is in the books and it wasn't pretty.

The Knicks' largest margin of victory in their 4-2 win over the Nets was six points and they won three games by a mere two points. The Nets' average margin in their two wins was 9! So New York was -18 in the losses and +12 in the wins. Yes, the Nets scored more points over the whole series.

Even die-hard Knicks fans will be hard pressed to argue the better team advanced. The more clutch or the luckier, sure. But if most of your players finish a series with a negative +/-, there is no reason to gloat.Â

Kyrie was the Knicks main man as he was all season long. Joe Ingles played an amazing series as well. He almost single-handedly won game five by going 5-5 from downtown and then shut down Goran Dragic in the deciding game six.

Dwight Howard was getting outmuscled by Deandre Jordan for five straight games, until he finally made a vintage appearance in game six. He finished with 16 points, including the Knicks last three field goals of the game as they pulled ahead in the last minutes, 20 boards and three blocks.

The Knicks' second round opponent will be even more formidable as they will be facing the Milwaukee Bucks in a rematch of last year's first-round matchup.

Back then the Knicks and Bucks met as the fourth and fifth seed, with the Knicks coming back from a 2-3 hole and winning a game 7 at MSG. This year badwolf's crew has leapfrogged New York and they meet as the #2 and #3 seeds with the Bucks holding home-court advantage.

Milwaukee easily dispatched the Bulls 4-1 despite missing the Bosnian Bear Nurkic in the middle and their sixth man Zach Lavine. Both are out for the season.

The absence of Nurkic creates a big hole in the middle, likely forcing KAT into starting at center and Thad Young at PF, negating any size advantage they Bucks usually have up front. (Of course they still have 6-11 Giannis at SF.)

However the Knicks just learned that they have a casualty of their own. Backup big man NÃªne pulled his groin against the Nets and has been ruled out for the remainder of the playoffs.

So it is time for Zach Randolph to get ready again. Z-Bo was relegated to towel-waiver after going 1-10 in game two against the Nets. He will hopefully fare better against the Bucks, matching his veteran savy against the rookie Poeltl.

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