Heat finishes strong against Knicks for second win in row
Takeaways from the Heat’s win over the New York Knicks on Sunday at Madison Square Garden. The Heat was without Goran Dragic because of an ankle injury.
The Heat is in search of consistency. There hasn’t been much of it to begin the season when it comes to on-court success or roster continuity.
But the Heat (9-14) took a step forward in that area with a 109-103 road win over the New York Knicks (11-14) on Sunday afternoon at Madison Square Garden to pick up its second victory in a row. It’s just the second time that Miami has recorded consecutive wins and it has yet to win three consecutive games.
“We’re trying to put together a whole 48-minute game of Heat basketball,” center Bam Adebayo said. “I feel like we’re getting closer and closer to
that point. We have some blemishes in the middle of the game for like a minute stretch and we come back. So I feel like we’re still building toward 48 minutes of great basketball.”
It was a close contest throughout, with the score tied at 94 with less than five minutes to play.
The Heat responded with a 15-9 run to close the game on its way to the win.
Wing Jimmy Butler led Miami’s fourth-quarter push with eight of his 17 points coming in the final period. Butler also finished with 10 rebounds and nine assists, with most of his points coming on 11-of-12 shooting at the foul line to negate a 3-of-11 shooting performance from the field.
Guard Tyler Herro hit an important three with 33.4 seconds to play to push the Heat’s lead to seven and seal the victory.
New York was led by forward Julius Randle, who finished with 26 points, 13 rebounds and seven assists.
Next up for the Heat is another game against the Knicks on Tuesday night at AmericanAirlines Arena.
Here are five takeaways from the Heat’s win over the Knicks:
The Heat’s offense put together its second straight efficient performance, which is encouraging.
After posting its best single-game offensive rating of the season in Friday’s win over the Washington Wizards, the Heat’s offense turned in another quality performance on Sunday against the Knicks’ statistically solid defense.
Miami scored 109 points on 48.2 percent shooting from the field, 13-of-35
shooting on threes and 16-of-20 shooting from the foul line against a New York team that entered with the NBA’s sixth-best defensive rating.
Adebayo scored a teamhigh 24 points on 10-of-17 shooting to go with 11 rebounds and five assists. Six Heat players finished with double-digit points.
“I think it just came down to sharing the ball and making the right plays,” Herro said. “It felt like last year where everyone is just playing for one another and guys are happy to see the other guys score. I think that’s when we’re at our best.”
Miami scored at a pace of 114.7 points per 100 possessions on Sunday.
Prior to these two games, the Heat had the league’s fifth-worst offensive rating with 105.7 points scored per 100 possessions in the first 21 games of the season.
With veteran guard Goran Dragic out because of a sprained left ankle, the Heat used its league-leading 16th different starting lineup in the 23rd game of the season.
For perspective, Miami used 15 different starting lineups all of last regular season.
Miami started secondyear guard Kendrick Nunn in place of Dragic, who moved into the starting lineup for Friday’s win and turned his ankle in that game.
Nunn started against the Knicks alongside Duncan Robinson, Butler, Kelly Olynyk and Adebayo.
Nunn again was efficient, continuing his best string of games in a year with 16 points on 6-of-11 shooting from the field and 4-of-7 shooting on threes, four rebounds and three assists in his third start of the season on Sunday.
Nunn has averaged 18.3 points while shooting 50.8 percent from the field and
36.7 percent on threes in his past nine games.
Along with Dragic, the Heat was also without without Avery Bradley (right calf strain), Moe Harkless (left thigh contusion), Meyers Leonard (left shoulder surgery) and Chris Silva (left hip flexor strain) on Sunday.
“Nobody is going to feel sorry for us, and we don’t want any pity,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said before Sunday’s contest. “If any organization or any locker room or any team can handle all of this, it’s us.”
The fact that Herro remained in a reserve role with Dragic out indicates the current plan is to keep Herro on the bench even when Dragic returns.
Herro played off the bench for the first time this season in Friday’s win over the Wizards, as Dragic replaced him in the starting group.
But even with Dragic unavailable against the Knicks, Herro played off the bench for the second straight game on Sunday.
Herro was the Heat’s first bench player to enter Sunday’s game, finishing with 16 points on 7-of-13 shooting, six rebounds and four assists in 32 minutes.
“I just want to be able to do whatever helps the team,” Herro said of playing as a reserve. “If me coming off the bench is what’s best for the team then so be it. That’s the role I’m in. Everyone has a role on every team. The really good teams, everybody stars in their role. I started as a starter and now I’m a ‘sixth man.’ So I’m ready to just be able to star in my role.”
The Knicks haven’t been known for their outside shooting this season, but the threepointer was a big part of its offense on Sunday.
New York entered averaging the second-fewest made threes per game
(9.5), and also with the seventh-worst team threepoint percentage (35.3) in the NBA this season.
But the Knicks tied a season-high with 16 made threes on a season-high 42 three-point attempts in Sunday’s loss. New York shot 38.1 percent from deep, as Miami’s strategy to trap the ball-handler led to some open outside shots on the weakside of the court.
How good of a shooting day was it for New York? The Knicks made their 10th three of the game to surpass its per game season average with three minutes left in the second quarter.
New York was especially hot in the first half, shooting 12 of 23 from threepoint range. It marked the most threes the Knicks have made in a first half since they hit 12 in the first two quarters of a win over the Wizards on April 9, 2013.
The Knicks cooled off in the second half on Sunday, shooting 4 of 19 (21.1 percent) from three-point range in the final two quarters.
Sunday marked the start of a long stretch away from home for the Heat. The good news for Miami is it started with an important win.
The Heat’s game at Madison Square Garden began a stretch of eight road games in a nine-game span. The Heat’s only home game during this time comes Tuesday against the Knicks.
“I think it’ll be good for our basketball team,” Spoelstra said of the
Heat’s road ahead. “We haven’t been together.
This is an opportunity for us to go out together, face a big challenge. It’s an opportunity for us to get connected even with all the protocols. So I’m looking forward to it.”
Miami begins a long seven-game trip on Thursday against the Houston Rockets.