We surmised earlier that Davis, given his age--34, old by NBA standards--and injury history, has probably played in his last game.

Well, it's all but confirmed now.

New York Times' Howard Beck broke the news that Davis' injury is even worse than initial prognosis. Davis suffered a partial tear of patella tendon and complete tears of ACL and MCL.

Okay, okay, we've been harsh on Amare, he deserves kudos for playing hurt on Sunday and helping his team to victory

Sunday's showcase was, in every way, the series many fans and basketball analyst had wanted/predicted/hoped to see. We finally got to see that Carmelo Anthony/LeBron James shootout everyone's been waiting for (These two go way back. They were rivals in high school and headlined the 2003 draft, when some thought Anthony should go #1 over James), as they traded buckets down the stretch in front of a rocking Madison Square Garden crowd.

Heading into the final two games of the regular season with identical records with the Philadelphia 76ers, the Knicks could have fallen down to the 8th spot and face the Chicago Bulls, a team that, despite being the top seed, was largely considered an inferior team to second-seeded Miami Heat.

Stoudemire leaving AmericanAirlines Arena with his arm, stitched up and in a sling

AP/Lynne Sladky

The good news is that the Knicks, as a whole, played much better--at least the game was competitive compared to last Sunday's humiliation. Carmelo Anthony--you know, the guy some New York media have tried to play off as LeBron Jame's equal--actually played quite well, carrying the offensive load in the first half with his myriad of jab steps and pull up jumpers, and getting to the free throw line.

Today, April 29, 2012, marks the 11th anniversary of the last Knicks playoff victory.

And judging by yesterday's smackdown at the hands of the Miami Heat, this drought may continue.

Especially considering that Iman Shumpert, the team's best perimeter defender by a mile--heck, he's one of three players on the roster who's not a bad defender, period--is out for 6-8 months with a torn ACL and meniscus.

While Miami's significant edge in free throw advantage (the Heat shot 33 free throws to Knicks' 11) had many fans roar out in anger over the officiating, blaming the loss on the refs is overlooking the fact that Carmelo Anthony had a horrible game, Tyson Chandler--suffering from the flu--wasn't his usual self, and LeBron James played out of his mind.

It's a matchup that will garner more buzz than a typical two-seed-vs-seven-seed series, due of a myriad of subplots.

First, these two teams have history. Miami's general manager, Pat Riley, started everything when he famously left the Knicks' coaching chair for Miami in 1995. Oh yeah, he also resigned from the job via fax (that was like the 1995 equivalent of texting). The Knicks accused Miami of poaching Riley behind the scenes, and the bad blood boiled over on the court, culminating in the infamous 1997 playoff series between the two teams, when both sides participated in a bench-clearing brawl (The video to the brawl, which started with Miami big man PJ Brown flipping New York guard Charlie Ward in the air, here).