Knicks Hand Bobcats 23rd Loss in a Row CHARLOTTE, N.C. - After the tumult and the injuries, the dizzying changes and the wild swings of fate, the Knicks concluded their regular season with a 48-minute exhale, a final chance to breathe before the air gets heavy and the lungs grow tight. The Knicks are heading to Miami for a playoff series that will strain their resolve, stretch their star power and ultimately define their season, if it doesn't wreck them. The series against the Heat opens Saturday at 3:30 p.m. "I couldn't be happier," Coach Mike Woodson said Thursday night, after the Knicks closed the regular season with a 104-84 rout of the Charlotte Bobcats. That's what we play for. It was a great regular season and it's playoff basketball time. They will be ready. The matchup was clinched on the final night of the season, when the Knicks secured the seventh seed in the Eastern Conference. It lined them up against a Heat team that is seeded second but may be the toughest in the league. Miami boasts a two-time most valuable player (LeBron James), a former finals M.V.P. (Dwyane Wade) and an experienced cast that took Dallas to the sixth game of the finals last June. The Knicks counter with Carmelo Anthony, Amar'e Stoudemire, Tyson Chandler and a cast that is still getting acquainted after a whirlwind season. "I like our chances against anyone," Stoudemire said, adding: "We feel like we've been playing well under Coach Woodson, so it's going to be a great battle. I think every game we've played against Miami so far has been a tight one. So it's really anybody's game. In fact, the Knicks went 0-3 against the Heat, including two double-digit losses in Miami and a 93-85 defeat at Madison Square Garden on April 15. But none of those games stands as an accurate indicator: the Knicks played the Heat once without Anthony, once without Stoudemire and deployed a different lineup in each game. The Knicks head to Miami on Friday with a new starting lineup, a reinvigorated defense and an enviable bench. Having won 18 of their final 24 games under Woodson, they are far from the average seventh seed. The Knicks (36-30) could have dropped to eighth - and drawn a more favorable matchup with the Chicago Bulls - with a loss and a victory by the Philadelphia 76ers. But the Knicks, even while resting three starters, found it difficult to lose to the woebegone Bobcats, who lost a franchise-record 23rd straight. The 76ers did not cooperate anyway, being routed, 108-86, at Detroit. Either way, the Knicks had acknowledged that the challenge would be immense in the first round. So Woodson rested Anthony, Chandler and Baron Davis (at their request) and used Stoudemire for only two quarters. Iman Shumpert was the only other starter to play. Of the Knicks" veterans, Stoudemire needed the most work, having just returned a week ago from a back injury. He finished strong, with 21 points, 2 rebounds, 2 blocks and a memorable dunk. As Woodson weighed the Knicks" potential playoff path, he sounded a confident note. Can we beat those teams? Absolutely," he said. But we've just got to come mentally and physically ready to play 48 minutes. We haven't put 48-minute ballgames together against the Miami team. The lineup the Knicks used Thursday was their 18th this season. The lineup that will open the playoffs - Davis, Shumpert, Anthony, Stoudemire and Chandler - has started only one game, against the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday. "At this point, the way the season has been going for us, everything is a challenge," Davis said. We've been having to adjust to so many different lineups and so many different injuries that we're just going to go and give it our best shot. The Bobcats (7-59) put up little resistance and finished with the worst winning percentage (.106) in N.B.A. history - an ignominious mark that had been held by the 1972-73 76ers, whose 9-73 record remains the worst for an 82-game season. The Knicks ended on a notably happier note, with their best winning percentage (.545) since 2000-1, when they went 48-34 (.585). They are seeking their first playoff series victory since 2000, and their first playoff win since 2004. They will set out to do so against the Heat - rivals from another era, and the Knicks" foil in 1999, when they pulled off a first-round upset on the way to the finals. "The Knicks fans have been starving for that first playoff win," Stoudemire said. Hopefully, that's coming soon. Tyson Chandler finished the season with a 67.9 field-goal percentage, tops in the N.B.A. and the third highest in league history. Only Wilt Chamberlain has recorded a higher percentage: 72.7 in 1972-73 and 68.3 in 1966-67. Chandler easily beat the runner-up, Orlando's Dwight Howard (57.3). ... Steve Novak won the 3-point crown, with a league-leading 47.2 rate (133 for 282). He is the first Knick to lead the league in that category since Campy Russell in 1981-82, with a 43.9 mark. ... Jeremy Lin had the league's second most popular jersey over the last 12 months, based on sales at N.B.A.com and the N.B.A. Store in New York. Lin, who finished behind Chicago's Derrick Rose, did so despite becoming an everyday player only in February. Carmelo Anthony had the fifth-highest-selling jersey. ... Jared Jeffries, who has rested a sore knee for five games, said he would play Saturday.