Five takeaways from Heat-Knicks: Finally a blowout win for Heat thanks to dominant third quarter
Here are five takeaways from the Miami Heat’s 110-87 win on Wednesday over the New York Knicks (1-4) at AmericanAirlines Arena.
1. The third quarter is a snapshot of what the Heat (2-2) strives for. Sure, the Knicks were without key players like Kristaps Porzingis, Kevin Knox and Courtney Lee, but the offensive balance and defensive dominance the Heat displayed in the third was still impressive.
Miami entered the second half with a 47-45 lead, but blew the game open by outscoring New York 45-20 in the third quarter to enter the fourth with a 92-65 advantage.
“It felt like everything we threw up was dropping,” Josh Richardson said. “What I am proud of is, when the offense started coming easier, we didn’t let up on defense. A lot of times in the NBA when guys’ shots start falling, they start relaxing on both ends and start trying to flow more. But we kept it tight on defense.”
Six Heat players scored in the third period, with center Hassan Whiteside leading the way with 13 points, four rebounds and two blocks in the quarter. Richardson contributed 11 points on 4-of-4 shooting in the frame.
Miami’s defense limited New York to 7 of 25 shooting (28 percent) in the third.
Whiteside’s strong third quarter propelled him to a stat line of 22 points, 14 rebounds and three blocks for the night. Richardson finished the game with 21 points on 8 of 14 shooting.
And Whiteside and Richardson did all of this in front of former Heat teammate Chris Bosh, who was waived by Miami in July 2017 after his blood clot issue was ruled a career-ending illness by an NBA doctor. Bosh and his family watched Wednesday’s game from courtside seats, his first time back at AmericanAirlines Arena to watch the Heat since he was released.
“It meant a lot. I’m glad to see him,” Whiteside said of Bosh. “I’m glad to see him smiling. He’s happy. He’s got his family. I think it was great for Heat Nation to see him, just seeing how happy he was.”
2. Rodney McGruder has been essential to start the season. Entering training camp, some thought he could be left out of the Heat’s rotation on most nights because of the team’s depth. But that thinking has changed.
McGruder has been one of the Heat’s most impactful and consistent players over the first four games. He continued his strong start to the year with 19 points, six rebounds and five assists on Wednesday. The 27-year-old is averaging 16.5 points on an ultra-efficient 55 percent shooting from the field and 57.1 percent shooting from three-point range, to go with 6.8 rebounds and four assists this season.
“He just does the simple things great and that’s not an easy thing to do,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “Always in the right spot. He’s going to run his patterns and cuts full speed. He’s going to get the best defensive matchups every night and find a way to help you, and he’s been doing that night in and night out.”
Need more proof the Heat’s player development program works? Just look at the growth in McGruder’s game. After going undrafted in 2013, he finally got his first NBA shot in 2016 with the Heat. McGruder averaged 6.4 points, 3.3 rebounds and 1.6 assists as a rookie that season, finding a role for himself as a three-and-D player. But it’s obvious he’s developed into much more than just a specialist. McGruder now looks like a complete player who can create offense off the dribble for himself and his teammates.
3. Justise Winslow is not ready to return yet. He was expected to play Wednesday against the Knicks, but ended up sitting out after experiencing tightness in his right hamstring before the game. He’s now missed the first four games of the season because of hamstring tightness.
But Winslow said after Wednesday’s win he did not suffer a setback.
“I’m just continuing being cautious. It’s not a setback, though,” Winslow said. “It didn’t feel exactly how I wanted it to feel. Just a little tightness. It actually felt good this morning. Usually it gets better as I get warm. But it just kind of stayed a little tight and I didn’t want to push it today.”
Missing his fourth consecutive regular-season game was disappointing for Winslow, though.
“Every game I miss, I’m disappointed,” he said. “But you got to think big picture and just continue to take all the precautions so when I am ready, it won’t be something we keep going back to and go out there and maybe even make it worse. I just want to be ready physically and mentally when that day comes to be out there.”
Along with Winslow, Wayne Ellington (sore left ankle), James Johnson (sports hernia surgery), Derrick Jones Jr. (foot) and Dion Waiters (left ankle surgery) also missed Wednesday’s contest.
With five players unavailable, two-way contract player Duncan Robinson made his regular-season debut. The Heat rookie out of Michigan finished with three points on 1 of 3 shooting in 10 minutes.
4. Kelly Olynyk finally got to play extended minutes. Starting in place of the injured Jones, Olynyk finished with 11 points and six assists in 30 minutes against the Knicks. He entered averaging just 15.4 minutes of court time over the first three games.
Olynyk was an important part of last season’s success, finishing with the best plus-minus on the team at plus-233. So far this season, the Heat has been outscored by five points with Olynyk on the court.
Wednesday was a step in the right direction, though, as Olynyk finished the win with a plus-minus of plus-25.
5. There was no close game this time. After the Heat’s first three games of the season were decided by a total of five points, it finally earned a blowout victory.
Lopsided wins don’t happen much for the Heat. Miami played in a league-high 53 clutch games — defined by the NBA as a game that has a margin of five points or fewer inside the final five minutes of the fourth quarter — last season, and started this season with three consecutive clutch games.
But the Heat enjoyed a night without drama Wednesday.
“It’s tough,” Spoelstra said of playing with a big lead. “Actually, Dwyane [Wade] brought the guys together in the third quarter when we got up 20 and just reminded these guys what this modern NBA is like. You saw it I guess tonight with Dallas — they go up 30 in the second quarter and end up dropping that game, us coming back against Charlotte from 26 down, Charlotte did that, I think New York did that. It seems like everybody, it’s a 20-point game swing, it can happen really quickly in either direction. So you want to see your team respond the right way and when we went up 20, some of our best effort and focus was after that, and that’s a good thing to see.”
This story was originally published October 24, 2018 at 9:54 PM.