The Miami HEAT defeated the New York Knicks 111-87 Friday night at Madison Square Garden. Shabazz Napier led the way for the HEAT with 18 points, seven rebounds and six assists.
Impact Performance of the Night: While it’s tough to pin-point a single person since everyone contributed in the victory, Shabazz Napier had a great game against New York. Napier started off the game very quickly and dished out some nice passes. In the second quarter, Napier started to drain some shots from outside and continued that for the remainder of the game. In addition to knocking down shots, Napier also had some nice finishes in transition. Napier finished the game with a career-high 18 points to go along with seven boards and six assists.
The Deciding Run: The HEAT went on a 14-4 run to take an 87-68 lead entering the fourth quarter. Mario Chalmers kept up his strong play on both ends during the run.
Earlier, Miami went on a 9-1 run to take a 54-44 lead with 2:22 left in the second quarter. Hassan Whiteside came up big on the defensive end throughout the run.
Play of the Game: With 2:18 to go in the first quarter, Shabazz Napier drove inside and found Chris Andersen with a fantastic no-look pass. From there, Andersen slammed it over Cole Aldrich to tie the game at 19.
Another nice play came with 7:07 left in the third quarter when Hassan Whiteside went with an excellent spin move in the post against Andrea Bargnani. Whiteside then finished the sweet hook shot to put Miami up 69-59.
Lastly, with just under two minutes to go in the first quarter, Mario Chalmers swiped an errant pass from Jose Calderon. Chalmers then passed it to James Ennis, who threw down a thunderous one-handed jam in transition to put the HEAT up 21-19.
Efficiency Rating: Offensive Efficiency: 105.3; Defensive Efficiency: 85.3
Trend to Watch: Mario Chalmers had an excellent outing and seemed to be everywhere against the Knicks. Chalmers played very well on both ends, as he created on offense and was very active in the passing lanes on the defensive end. He also got the HEAT out in transition often and kept the pressure on New York’s defense. As usual, Chalmers set up his teammates with great lobs that got the team fired up. In all, Chalmers scored 13 points, dished out seven assists, grabbed six boards and had an NBA season-high eight steals against the Knicks. On one such steal in the third quarter, Chalmers came from behind to steal the ball from Quincy Acy after Acy grabbed a defensive rebound. Chalmers missed the following layup, but James Ennis followed the play and came through with a thunderous put-back slam.
The Takeaway: It truly was an all-around team effort for the HEAT on Friday night. Miami had just nine active players for the game, but everyone scored (including eight in double-figures) and each player tallied at least two rebounds against the Knicks. The HEAT moved the ball very well throughout the game and had 28 assists on 38 made field goals. As a result, the team shot pretty well from the field.
On the flip side, Miami played suffocating defense and contested shots very well, as New York shot just 42.7 percent for the game. While he saw just 20 minutes of action, Hassan Whiteside played a role in that. Whiteside had some nice stretches in the second and third quarters and finished with 12 points, nine rebounds and two blocks.
Notes:
- Udonis Haslem replaced Chris Bosh in the starting lineup and played very well. Haslem displayed toughness inside and set some great screens to free up his teammates. Haslem finished with 13 points on 5-of-6 shooting and five rebounds. He also knocked down his first career 3-pointer in the fourth quarter.
- Eight double-figure scorers for the HEAT tied a team record.
Game Highlights: