Takeaways from Heat’s road win over Knicks to end losing skid, and Jimmy Butler’s takeover
The Miami Heat earned its first win in nearly two weeks because of one of its best halves in weeks.
After entering halftime in a seven-point hole, the Heat (23-24) dominated the second half to snap its six-game losing skid with a 98-88 win over the New York Knicks (24-23) on Monday night at Madison Square Garden. It marked Miami’s first victory since a March 16 home win over the Cleveland Cavaliers.
“Sticking with it. Trying to stay positive,” Jimmy Butler said on Fox Sports Sun of how the Heat approached ending its longest losing streak since the 2016-17 season. “Winning is what we want to do. Losing is always hard and it’s never fun. But to start a winning streak, you do gotta win one. Hopefully this is that one.”
Miami outscored New York 62-45 in the second half to cruise to the double-digit victory. It’s the fifth-largest margin that the Heat has won a half by this season.
Butler was the driving force behind Miami’s surge, scoring 19 of his team-high 27 points in the second half. He also finished with five rebounds and six assists.
And Bam Adebayo turned in his usual all-around standout stat line with 20 points, 17 rebounds, four assists and two blocks. Adebayo recorded 10 points and six rebounds in the fourth quarter.
Meanwhile, the Knicks struggled to find an offensive rhythm against the Heat’s top-10 defense. New York shot 41.2 percent from the field and 10 of 36 on threes, and posted its fourth-worst single-game offensive rating of the season.
All-Star forward Julius Randle led the Knicks with 22 points on 7-of-17 shooting, eight rebounds and three assists.
Monday’s win clinched a 3-0 sweep for the Heat of its season series with the Knicks. It’s the second time in three seasons that Miami has swept its series against New York.
Next up for the Heat is a matchup against the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday at Bankers Life Fieldhouse to close its three-game trip.
Here are five takeaways from the Heat’s win over the Knicks:
What did a game between two of the NBA’s top defenses and least efficient offenses turn into? Unsurprisingly, a defensive slugfest ... until Butler injected life into the Heat’s offense.
The Heat entered with the NBA’s eighth-best defensive rating and seventh-worst offensive rating this season. And the Knicks entered with the NBA’s fourth-best defensive rating and eighth-worst offensive rating.
It was evident in Monday’s game that defense was a strength for both teams, as Miami and New York combined to score 79 points on 36 percent shooting from the field and 21.1 percent shooting on threes in the first half.
But Butler almost single-handedly lifted the Heat’s struggling offense after an ugly 36-point first half.
Butler scored 15 points on 6-of-7 shooting and dished out two assists in the third quarter to serve as the catalyst behind a 39-point period. Miami won the third quarter 39-21 to enter the fourth ahead by 11.
Butler shot 4 of 4 at the rim in his impressive third quarter, and two of those makes came in semi-transition.
“10x critical,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said of the importance of Butler’s third-quarter push. “This is a game, always with the Knicks, that it’s going to be a grind, it’s going to be in the mud. You can’t generate wide open looks every single possession. So Jimmy really just broke free in semi-transition to get going to start that third quarter. We got some momentum and I think once he was able to just get us the lead again, then other guys started to feel a lot more comfortable and our three-point shooters started to get going.”
Duncan Robinson contributed 11 points with the help of 3-of-4 shooting on threes in the Heat’s big third quarter. Robinson ended the night with 14 points on 4-of-9 shooting from deep.
The spacing Robinson’s three-point shooting provides is always important, but it was critical against the Knicks’ elite defense. The Heat scored at an efficient rate of 123.3 points per 100 possessions in the 32 minutes Robinson played Monday, and that number shrunk to 75 points per 100 possessions in the 16 minutes he was on the bench.
The first half was a struggle for the Heat’s offense, which totaled just 36 points on 33.3 percent shooting from the field and 4-of-19 shooting on threes in the first two quarters. It marked the fourth-lowest scoring half for the Heat this season.
“In the first half, I thought that we had some really good looks from the three,” Spoelstra said. “We just missed them. A lot of those, I’ll have to look on film, but they were open. The right plays, the right trust, delivered on time and on target, we just didn’t knock them down. And we were able to still defend to keep the game close enough.”
Veteran guard Goran Dragic returned from injury, and he played alongside the Heat’s leading duo of Adebayo and Butler for just the 14th game this season.
With Kendrick Nunn out because of a sprained right ankle, Dragic stepped into his place in Miami’s starting lineup Monday after missing the previous four games because of lower back spasms.
Dragic, 34, finished with four points on 2-of-6 shooting, five rebounds and two assists in 24 minutes in his ninth start of the season.
“It’s great to have G out there, of course. He just controls the game,” Robinson said. “Just his presence out there, we feel really comfortable with the ball in his hands and his ability to play make and create and of course really be a spark for our offense. I know he’s still just getting his rhythm back after missing time. But it’s only a matter of time before he does.”
The Heat used its 21st different starting lineup of the season: Dragic, Robinson, Butler, Trevor Ariza and Adebayo.
Because of injury and protocol-related issues, Monday marked just the sixth game that the Heat’s core trio of Adebayo, Butler and Dragic have played in together since Feb. 7.
Newcomer Nemanja Bjelica played off the bench in his Heat debut, but he didn’t play much.
Bjelica, who was acquired by Miami in a trade with the Sacramento Kings last week, entered for his first minutes in a Heat uniform with 1:07 remaining in the first quarter as the 10th man.
Bjelica, a stretch-four, finished his Heat debut scoreless with one rebound in five minutes. He did not attempt a shot in the game and did not play in the second half.
At 6-10 and 234 pounds, the 32-year-old Bjelica can make threes and is an above average passer for his position. His primary role will be to space the floor for Adebayo, Butler and Miami’s other attackers.
When the Heat’s roster is closer to full strength, it will be interesting to see where Bjelica fits into the rotation. Bjelica is an option to start in the frontcourt alongside Adebayo because of his size and shooting, but he could also stick as a bench option.
As one of the few remaining true power rotation players on the Heat’s roster, rookie Precious Achiuwa is being relied on to play pretty much all of the non-Adebayo minutes ... for now.
Adebayo played 37 minutes and Achiuwa played the 11 minutes that Adebayo was not in the game Monday.
Achiuwa, 21, finished with two points and three rebounds. He was called for five fouls in his first nine minutes of action.
“Precious, he’s taking it step by step,” Adebayo said. “Being that young and to be put in that position where you have that many minutes to be responsible for, he’s still trying to figure it out.”
With the Heat trading away centers Kelly Olynyk, Chris Silva and Meyers Leonard in recent weeks to bring back perimeter-oriented players, Achiuwa (6-8, 225) and veteran Udonis Haslem (6-8, 235) are essentially the only other center options currently on Miami’s roster besides Adebayo.
The Heat had just 11 available players, and was missing one important newcomer.
Guard Victor Oladipo, who the Heat acquired from the Houston Rockets in a trade last week, remains in Miami and missed Monday’s win because of a head cold.
The Heat has one remaining game on its three-game trip — Wednesday against the Pacers. Spoelstra was non-committal when asked whether Oladipo would also miss Wednesday’s contest, but his Heat debut could be put on hold until the team returns home to face the Golden State Warriors on Thursday.
The Heat was also without Nunn, who started in each of the previous 24 games. Nunn missed Monday’s game because of a sprained right ankle he sustained in Friday’s loss to the Charlotte Hornets.
Spoelstra said an MRI was not required for Nunn’s injured ankle and he has remained with the team on the trip.
In addition, Haslem and KZ Okpala both remain away from the team because of health and safety protocols.
This story was originally published March 29, 2021 at 9:56 PM.
