LeBron James and the Miami Heat head back to MSG tonight for the second matchup against the Knicks, and tickets are selling for less than half of first MSG match-up in December.
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The first matchup in December was a highly anticipated circus, and a dramatic coda to The Decision. New Yorker’s don’ t like to be spurned, and so they did all they could to pay up and show LeBron what he was missing. The average price for that game were close $750 a ticket, with a 50% increase coming in the 3 days prior. After all that build-up, and cash, a tight first half turned into a blowout for the Heat.
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Since the first meeting, the Heat have gone from relative underachievers to beasts that are living up to the pre-season billing as favorites in the East. The Knicks, on the other hand, have lost six of seven, and some of the season’ s early optimism.
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For tonight’s game, the Heat is favored by only three points and the average price currently sits just above $324. While it’s a fire sale compared to game one, this is still 50% above the Knicks home average of $212, and over 3 times the average face price for the game. And despite the 50% drop in the last week, it will likely be one of the ten most expensive regular season tickets in New York for 2011. In recent memory, the Knicks have not been able to make that claim often, if ever.
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If the Knicks can figure out a way to take down the Heat, it will be money well spent for fans (especially those that snag a 300- or 400-level, which start at $64 and $100 respectively). If they lose, fans can take some measure of solace in the fact that they still have a winging record, a legitimate face for the franchise, and if the season ended today, a spot in the playoffs.
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Despite those strides, however, others will argue 6th, 7th or 8th in East is meaningless, and that without Carmelo Anthony the Knicks have no chance of playing May basketball. If he does find his way to the World’ s Most Famous Arena before the February 24th deadline, the circus would be back at the Garden for an extended stay and the Knicks current home average of $212 will seem like a quaint memory.
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For tickets to tonight’s Knicks-Heat game, click here.

Here at TiqIQ, we love sports (obviously) and we also love to travel, so we figured that all the other people, especially Lakers or Celtics fans in LA, would be interested to know about a unique, money-saving travel package we’ve put together. It allows you to enjoy all the fun of a Finals game, at a fraction of the cost.
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- One day and one night in Boston: $299
- Two tickets to the see the Lakers/Celtics in The Finals at TD Bankworth: $900
- A Round trip ticket from LA to Boston: $487
- Total Price: $1686, or $104 more than ONE ticket to a game at the Staples Center.
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Price of seeing a Lakers/Celtics game in the NBA Finals: Not quite priceless, but pretty cool.

With few expectations of a deep playoff run, early round Celtics playoff tickets have been more affordable than expected. However, with each each round has come a healthy increase in prices: 84% from the quarters to the semis, and 80% from the semis to the conference finals.

Expect to see another strong double digit increase if the Celtics can finish off the Magic and move on to The Finals. A Celtics-Lakers 80s-classic redux could drive tickets well north of $500.
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For all Celtics playoff tickets, click here.

After the Canadiens won games Five and Six of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals, the series headed back to DC for a game Seven. While most Caps fans never dreamed the series go Seven, it was still a hot ticket. How hot? As you can see, Caps fans paid $116 more for Game 7 than other games in the series.
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Those fans lucky enough to not score a ticket can now use their $295 to see around Seven Nats games or a little over two Skins games.
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For upcoming Nats and Skins games, click here.

Last year these two teams battled in a hard-fought seven-game series in the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals. This year, while they didn’t play each other on the ice, we decided to see how playoff prices for the two elite Eastern Conference Teams stacked up.
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At first blush, you might be surprised that Pens fans are paying more than Caps fans, who have never seen their team hoist Lord Stanley. However, the reality is that in DC the Caps are hot and lots of fans are looking to make a quick buck by selling tickets. As a result, there are many more tickets available for Caps games, especially in less expensive sections, which drives down the total average price.
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For Penguins Playoff Tickets click here.

Here’s an equation for expensive tickets: A great regular season, expectations for a championship trophy and the possibility that this would be the last chance to see LeBron as the King in Cleveland. If you’re wondering how expensive, the answer is an average of $351/ticket for games at Quicken Loans. For a family of 4, that’s a tax refund to get excited about! While championship-starved Cleveland fans would have probably paid double that, in the end, our family of 4 would have been better off buying a new 3D TV or a case of some top-shelf booze to prepare for the possibility of life without LeBron. And if it had gone to game 7? Cavs fans will cringe to know they would have parted ways with $555/ticket.
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On the other hand, Celtics fans, with low expectations for the series, got a good deal, relatively speaking, paying $164/ticket for games at TD Banknorth.
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Boston now moves on to face the Magic in the conference finals. With the Red Sox off to a slow start and the Bruins out of it, it looks like Boston fans are putting a lot of their eggs into the Celtics basket, paying an average of $292/ticket to see if they can make it back to the NBA Finals.
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For all tickets to the Eastern Conference Finals, click here.