Ailing Chandler plays about as well as he feels

MIAMI -- Tyson Chandler's Knicks teammates had not seen much of him during the previous several days, and when they did get a look at him Saturday, they barely recognized their center in his weakened, flu-ridden state.

"He wasn't 100 percent at all," Carmelo Anthony said. "He came in after throwing up and things like that."

Chandler managed to stay on the court for only 21 minutes and played as poorly as he felt, finishing with no points, seven turnovers and four personal fouls. (As a Maverick last season, he committed one turnover in the final five games of the NBA Finals against the Heat.)

Afterward, Chandler received intravenous fluids while answering questions from a pool reporter. "Obviously, I don't feel like myself," he said. "I just felt like I was just kind of blank. I was kind of always dizzy and foggy. Everything was off."

Chandler did not think he would be able to play as of late Friday but decided to give it a try, thinking he would "be able to give my team a little something . . . But I wasn't able to do much."

The worst thing Chandler did was seemingly get LeBron James angry en route to his 32-point performance (in three quarters) as the Heat routed the Knicks, 100-67, in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinal series.

With 1:34 left in the first half and the Knicks unraveling, Chandler set a hard pick near midcourt, driving a shoulder into James, who was blindsided and went down holding the back of his neck and head.

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Initially Chandler was ejected, but after a review of the video, the officials downgraded it to a less serious grade of flagrant foul, allowing him to remain in the game.

"I thought it was a legal pick, honestly," he said. "He didn't see me coming. I tried to set a pick for my guard to be able to come off and exploit it. I got a flagrant for it, but I didn't think it was illegal."

Said James: "I played football, so I've been hit harder than that . . . I'm all right. It definitely was one of those hits that hurt on contact and lingered around for a little, but I'm all right now."

The pick figures to be mostly forgotten by Monday, but for the Knicks to have a chance to upset the Heat, they likely will need Chandler to be himself again.

It was evident in the comments of several teammates that Chandler was so out of sorts that it affected them not only in basketball terms but their morale.

"He wasn't himself out there," Amar'e Stoudemire said. "I can tell. Tyson is very, very vocal. Tonight he didn't quite have it."

Said Baron Davis: "You could tell he was weak out there. He was fighting more than them on the court; he was fighting an illness."

Still, Chandler said he is cautiously optimistic about Game 2. "I think I'll be fine," he said. "I hope all this stuff goes away."