The Knicks beat the Heat in the second half of Sunday night’s game. The Knicks were trailing heading into the fourth 87-81 and outscored the Heat 24-18 to force overtime. They held Miami to seven points in the overtime and made their offense one-dimensional.
Bam has 30, Herro struggles
Bam Adebayo had 30 points on the night on an efficient 12/16 shooting. He had a sweet jumper over OG Anunoby to kick off the overtime period. He only had eight foul shot attempts. Tyler Herro scored 22 points on 24 shots. The Knicks were blitzing the three-point line, not letting Herro get off easy shots.
Herro made two out of eleven three-point shots and only got to the line four times all night. The Heat played a great first half up 62-47. Then the Knicks attacked the paint in the third with multiple layups and dunks. Along with paint scoring, they knocked down timely three-point shots.
Anunoby – Adebayo jump ball
From the 36 point third quarter to the 24 point fourth, the Heat still had a chance to win. They went into overtime. The Knicks went up 110-109 when a jump ball was called between OG Anunoby and Bam Adebayo. Anunoby can be seen grabbing Adebayo’s dominant arm before the jump. Adebayo shrugged off the initial grab, but then Anunoby slipped his hand over the arm again, and Adebayo used his off-hand to tip.
The Knicks won the jump ball. Heat analyst John Crotty didn’t catch the grab and commented incredulously on how the Heat lost the tip. As the old saying goes, “referees don’t play the games.” Adebayo shouldn’t have allowed Anunoby to do that. The referees may issue this in the “calls we missed” report. But if it was called, the Heat would’ve gotten foul shots.
Heat stray from game plan in second half
The Heat beat Indiana on Friday with a combination of balanced offense and strong defense. The Knicks shot 63% in the third quarter. The Knicks “lived in the paint” and completely blew a hole in the Heat defense, ala “Swiss cheese.” Herro took and missed five shots during the third, when the Knicks made their run.
The Knicks outrebounded Miami by 18 and doubled up the Heat on second-chance points (18-9). Andrew Wiggins and Jaime Jaquez Jr. didn’t play tonight. The Heat, though, missed a chance to win the game. Hopefully, the team uses this as a “growth moment.” But the fact that they blew another lead stings.
