1. It was a slow start for the HEAT – a slow start for everyone across the league tonight, probably – as they fell behind 10-0 in the opening minutes, but the ship was swiftly righted as Erik Spoelstra went deeper into his rotation and the bench offered a burst of energy, outscoring New York’s second-unit, 49-18, in a 115-110 Miami victory. The Knicks have some capable defensive players, Mitchell Robinson in particular created some early problems protecting the paint, but they haven’t been nearly as sharp on that end as they were last season and the HEAT generally were able to get to their actions the straightforward way. Tyler Herro had an efficient 25 on 18, canning just about every spot-up look that came his way and keeping the ball moving north-south, and Jimmy Butler steadied a drought in the third quarter, but otherwise no heroics were needed.
It was on the other end, as usual, where Miami really made hay. Without Derrick Rose to juice the offense a little – lately he’s been one of the few Knicks who can consistently get downhill pressure against the HEAT’s help – there simply weren’t very many avenues for New York to either create advantages or capitalize on the ones they did create. Generally one of the most transition-averse teams around, there’s a good reason why the Knicks clearly had made it a point of emphasis to try and run on Miami. In the halfcourt, there was just nothing doing. New York finished with an Offensive Rating of 98.0 and all non-RJ Barrett players shot 17-of-53 from the field.
2. Speaking of Barrett, he single-handedly kept the Knicks in the conversation after Miami took a 16-point lead in the first half. Barrett scored 30 points, of New York’s 55, on 13 shots in the first half – the first HEAT opponent to score 30 in a half since 2020 and then tenth to do so since 1996 – and 16 in the second to finish with 46 on just 22 shots. The Knicks weren’t able to sustain much of their early open-floor aggression, but Barrett at least kept the offense out of the mud whenever he was in the game, pushing off rebounds and bulldozing his way to the rim coming off screens to parade his way to the strike (14-of-22 on free-throws). Sure, there were some hero shots, pull-up threes and the like, that are always going to be there when a player has a big night, but Barrett deserves credit for how much of his total came within the relative flow of what the team needed. The Knicks needed him to force it, but he did it in his own way.
3. Bam Adebayo is a nightmare for Julius Randle, and he wasn’t even the primary defender on New York’s leading scorer for much of the night. There’s enough of a history between the two that there was plenty of push to try and get Randle other matchups, often leaving Adebayo to protect both the rim with some impressive verticality plays and his teammates that the Knicks were trying to hunt. Randle missed a handful of good looks on his way to a 2-of-15 night from the field, but there were at least five instances where he would beat his man and be on his way to a good opportunity only for Adebayo to come into the picture and ruin everything. Part of the reason the Knicks haven’t matched up well with Miami for a couple years is that their best scorer has a good amount of trouble with the HEAT’s best defender, and the Knicks just haven’t had the shooting or playmaking elsewhere to either occupy Adebayo elsewhere or hit the shots created when the HEAT, as they are wont to do, front Randle with smaller players in the post and tilt an extra defender in his direction.
-Next Up For Miami: Saturday – February 26, 8pm at Miami. Watch It Live On NBA League Pass