The Knicks and Heat met for the first time this season last night at Madison Square Garden and with New York playing their best basketball of the year a perfect storm was brewing. During the Knicks 54 win campaign, three regular season victories over the Heat provided the impetus for talk that New York was ready to dethrone the Champs but a second round exit to the Pacers and subsequent 12-22 start have made those talks a distant memory. Still, you had to believe Mike Woodson’s group didn’t want the James-Wade express to derail the recent good fortunes.
Maybe that somehow fired up Andrea Bargnani who scored 10 of his 19 points in the game’s opening stanza. On this night though it wasn’t just a one or two man show with five of the eight Knicks receiving playing time hitting double digits in scoring. Miami’s dynamic duo did what they could throughout the game to keep things close combining to score 55 of their teams 92 points on 23-32 from the field. New York’s defense did a good job of limiting Miami’s role players to the tune of just 39%.
Coach Woodson made a bit of a statement early calling on neophyte Tim Hardaway Jr. as his first reserve off the bench instead of reigning 6th Man of the Year, JR Smith who was recently fined by the NBA $50,000 for trying to untie the shoes of Detroit’s, Greg Monroe. This coming on the heels of a warning from the NBA and his head coach that further transgressions would not be tolerated at least not without some sort of punishment. Smith had recently untied the shoes of both Shawn Marion and Dwight Howard during the clubs trip through Texas. When it was all said and done Smith would be a DNP – Coaches Decision for the first time this year.
The third quarter was particularly good for New York as they drained 5, three pointers yet maybe even more impressive was the consistent ball movement and cohesion that is customarily missing from the team’s offense. Raymond Felton can take much of the credit for this as he dished out a season high, 14 assists while putting pressure on both Miami’s front & backcourt by getting into the paint almost at will.
The Heat would close the gap to as little as five following a Ray Allen 4-point play that was immediately answered by a Shumpert three. Miami would get no closer as New York hit big shots down the stretch to open up a double digit lead, eventually leading to a 102-92 victory. Anthony led New York with 29 points.
Notes:
NY outrebounded Miami 43-32
Miami hit just 11 of 21 free throws
NY has held their last three opponents under 100 points
Wilson Caicedo: PureSportsNY