The Knicks’ attack was pretty weak during the game.
A brilliant Butler shelved any hope of a comeback
The Heat beat the New York Knicks this Saturday in Miami (105-86) and they took a 2-1 lead in this Eastern semifinal thanks to a Jimmy Butler who added 28 points after missing the second game with a knee injury.
Bam Adebayo (17 points and 12 rebounds), Max Strus (19 points) and Kyle Lowry (14 points coming off the bench) also stood out for the Heat who controlled the game from start to finish.
The Knicks had a very out-of-tune performance in attack with only 34.1% in field goals and a measly 20% in triples (8 of 40).
Jalen Brunson contributed 20 points (7 of 20 shooting, 0 of 5 3-pointers), 6 rebounds and 8 assists and Julius Randle was far from his level with only 10 points (4 of 15 on basket attempts, 0 of 5 on 3-pointers) and 14 rebounds. .
Immanuel Quickley retired in the fourth quarter at the New Yorkers with knee pain.
The fourth match of this tie will be played Monday also in Miami.
Butler returns fine
Butler started strongly, opened the scoring for the locals and guided Some Heat that in the first quarter were winning by 13 points.
More successful in attack and concentrated in defense, Those from Miami had 10 points from their star in that period and they reached the conclusion of the first quarter 8 points above (29-21) against some Knicks with their sights very far off (8 of 25 in shots, 0 of 4 in triples).
The Heat, who had only hit one 3-pointer from seven attempts in the opening segment, nailed two in a row from substitutes Duncan Robinson and Haywood Highsmith to stretch your advantage.
Another Lowry triple, also as part of the second unit, opened the wound for the Knicks until -19 (44-25) still with more than eight minutes to play until the break.
The Knicks’ first two 3-pointers came from Quickley, but Butler, who for much of the second quarter was more focused on defense than offense, reacted to shrinking Heat lead with 5 points so that his team went to rest with a remarkable margin (58-44).
powerless knicks
With both teams shining more in defense than in attackthe third quarter began with a new acceleration of the Heatwho with Butler, Strus and Adebayo in front surpassed the 20-point difference on the scoreboard for the first time (73-52 with 6.30 on the clock).
The segment continued with both teams with difficulties to score points in a tough game under the hoops in which the Heat kept a 17-point lead going into the last 12 minutes (87-70).
However, that third quarter ended with a scuffle in which Cody Zeller pushed RandleIsaiah Hartenstein did the same with Zeller and Caleb Martin responded to Hartenstein with another push (except for Randle, all of them took a technique).
With Butler resting, Adebayo hung from the hoop and Lowry continued to give good minutes from the bench to put Miami with a +22 that seemed definitive (95-73 with 7.49 from the end).
However, the Knicks responded with a 0-8 run and came within 13 points with more than four minutes left, so Butler returned to the court to definitively silence an unlikely comeback attempt Visitor Epic.