Five takeaways from the Miami Heat’s 115-113 win over the New York Knicks (8-5) on Monday night at Kaseya Center to snap a two-game skid and begin a quick two-game homestand. Next up for the Heat (8-6) is a matchup against Jimmy Butler and the Golden State Warriors on Wednesday in Miami:
After falling to the Knicks in New York on Friday, the Heat came back to Miami and defeated the Knicks three days later.
The Heat remained without its leading duo of Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro on Monday. Adebayo missed his sixth straight game because of a left big toe sprain and Herro has yet to play this season after undergoing left ankle surgery in September.
The Knicks were also without two of their best players, as OG Anunoby (left hamstring strain) and Jalen Brunson (sprained right ankle) were unavailable on Monday. Brunson also missed Friday’s game against the Heat and Anunoby tweaked his hamstring early in Friday’s victory over the Heat.
But like Friday’s game at Madison Square Garden, the Heat and Knicks still produced a competitive affair.
After the Heat and Knicks combined for 272 points and 40 made threes in Friday’s matchup in New York that the Knicks won 140-132, they combined for just 228 points on Monday.
The first half included seven lead changes and five ties before the Heat entered halftime with a 55-51 lead despite shooting just 22 of 54 (40.7 percent) from the field.
The teams continued to trade punches in a back-and-forth third quarter that featured four lead changes and three ties that ended with the Heat entering the fourth quarter with an 83-82 advantage.
Then there were 10 lead changes just in the first six minutes of the fourth quarter before the Heat finally created some separation from the Knicks down the stretch.
After New York pulled ahead by one point with 6:28 left in the fourth quarter, Miami went on a 14-3 run to take a 10-point lead with 3:10 to play.
The Knicks didn’t go away quietly, though, responding with an 11-2 run to cut the deficit to one with 22.4 seconds to play.
With the Heat then possession of the ball, the Knicks intentionally fouled guard Davion Mitchell with 21.4 seconds left. But Mitchell only made one of the two free throws, to put Miami ahead by two points.
The Knicks’ appeared to tie game, as a goal-tending violation was called on Heat center Kel’el Ware on a five-foot shot by Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns with 13.2 seconds remaining.
But after the official reviewed the play, the call was reversed to a legal block by Ware.
With the ball loose at the time of the goal-tending call, there was a jump ball between the two teams to determine possession.
The Knicks won the jump ball, but could not take advantage.
Knicks guard Miles McBride missed a four-foot shot with five seconds to play. Towns grabbed the offensive rebound to give New York another chance to tie or win the game, but Towns missed an eight-foot look with 5.3 seconds left and then came away with another offensive rebound before missing another 12-foot attempt with 3.2 seconds remaining.
Mitchell then grabbed the defensive rebound for the Heat to clinch the win.
Seven Heat players finished with double-digit points. Norman Powell led Miami with a team-high 19 points.
The rebounding wasn’t as big of a factor this time around.
After the Knicks grabbed 20 offensive rebounds in Friday’s matchup, the Heat limited the Knicks to 12 offensive rebounds on Monday. Miami even outscored New York in second-chance points, 21-15, on Monday.
This is a step forward for the Heat, which entered Monday with the NBA’s second-worst defensive rebounding percentage (the percentage of available defensive rebounds a team grabs) this season at 66.1%.
The Heat’s rebounding has been especially bad since Adebayo went out with a sprained toe.
The Heat entered Monday with the NBA’s 28th-ranked defensive rebounding percentage at 61% over the first five games that Adebayo missed after recording the NBA’s 14th-ranked defensive rebounding percentage at 69.8% with Adebayo available for the first eight games of the season. Some of that is because of Adebayo’s actual rebounding, but the more subtle part is Adebayo’s reliable box-out ability often works to take the opponent’s top rebounder away from the ball.
Further proof of the Adebayo effect: The Heat entered Monday with a defensive rebounding percentage of 74% when Adebayo is on the court for a number that would rank second-best in the NBA among teams this season. Without Adebayo on the court, the Heat’s defensive rebounding percentage plummets to 62.3% for a number that would rank as the worst in the league among teams this season.
The Heat’s young duo of center Kel’el Ware and forward Nikola Jovic had very different nights.
Ware held his own against a talented and big Knicks frontcourt, as the 21-year-old 7-footer contributed 16 points, 14 rebounds and three blocks in his sixth straight start for the sidelined Adebayo. It marked Ware’s fifth straight double-digit rebound game and his fourth straight double-double performance.
Ware was a factor from the start, totaling six points and six rebounds in the first 6:13 of the game. He then recorded five points, four rebounds and one block inthe fourth quarter.
But the 22-year-old Jovic again struggled, finishing Monday’s win with five points on 2-of-7 shooting from the field and 1-of-4 shooting on threes in 15 minutes off the Heat’s bench.
Heat guard Norman Powell has been on a scoring tear to begin the season, but he was part of a more balanced attack on Monday.
After scoring a season-high 38 points in Friday’s loss to the Knicks, Powell finished Monday’s with 19 points on 9-of-20 shooting from the field. He missed all three of his three-point attempts.
It was a relatively quiet night for Powell, who entered as the NBA’s 18th-ranked scorer with 26.1 points per game. He also entered as one of only two players in the league averaging at least 26 points per game while shooting 45 or better from the field and three-point range this season, along with Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo.
In addition, Monday marked just the second time that Powell has finished a game with fewer than 20 points in his first 11 appearances this season.
One player who wasn’t on the Heat’s bench on Monday was rookie guard Kasparas Jakucionis.
Jakucionis, who missed time in the preseason and the first seven regular-season games with a groin injury, is out of the Heat’s rotation and is still waiting to make his NBA debut.
So the Heat sent Jakucionis to its G League affiliate, the Sioux Falls Skyforce, this past weekend to get some game action under his belt as part of his ongoing development.
Jakucionis’ first G League game was a bit shaky, as he totaled 12 points on 4-of-15 shooting from the field and 2-of-5 shooting on threes, 7 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 steals and 6 turnovers in the Sioux Falls Skyforce’s loss to the Windy City Bulls on Sunday.
Jakucionis, 19, will have a few more opportunities to play in G League games this week. The Skyforce plays three games this week (Tuesday vs. Cleveland Charge, Friday at Wisconsin Herd and Saturday at Herd).
Jakucionis was taken by the Heat with the 20th pick in the first round of this year’s NBA Draft.
“The most important thing right now is he just needs to play,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said Monday of sending Jakucionis to the G League for a stretch of games. “It’s not even necessarily about evaluating him right now. He had some good weeks during the summer. And then it was just unfortunate that he had the injury.
“He even asked me, ‘What do I need to work on?’ And I was like, ‘Don’t stress out about that right now.’ It’s about getting out there and playing, and then we’ll take that next step when it comes. But I thought there were some good minutes there. It was a tough loss. But we’ll build on that.”
Also unavailable for the Heat on Monday were Adebayo, Herro, Myron Gardner (G League) and Terry Rozier (not with team).