The Miami Heat handled the New York Knicks 129-114 with ease in a game that was never in doubt. The Heat once again defended their home court with 3-point shooting.
It’s not every day you can blow out an NBA team with your best player only taking three field goal attempts. On Friday night, coming off a tough win over the Philadelphia 76ers just two night earlier, the Miami Heat pulled off the trick. They won in blowout fashion over the New York Knicks with Jimmy Butler scoring just nine points on 2-of-3 shooting from the floor.
It turns out they didn’t need more than that from him on the offensive end thanks to an explosion of scoring from behind the 3-point line. Duncan Robinson led the way going 6-of-10 from the floor, with every one of those shots coming from long range. In all the Heat shot 18-of-38 from behind the arc while the Knicks made just 10 of their 34 3-point attempts.
The Heat got out to a huge lead in the first quarter with a 39-20 margin at the end of the period and never looked back. The starting lineup of Kendrick Nunn, Robinson, Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo and Meyers Leonard combined for 69 quick points and they managed to keep their minutes low with only Butler and Adebayo playing more than 24 minutes in total.
Thanks to the blowout nature of the game head coach Erik Spoelstra was able to spread out the bulk of the minutes in the game, playing 10 players in all. Nine players played between 20 and 30 minutes, and two-way player Chris Silva just missed out with 12 minutes.
Seven players scored in double digits as Bam Adebayo led the way with 20 points, and Butler’s nine points just missed out.
Goran Dragic made his return after missing 10 games with injury, coming off the bench behind Nunn. He scored 18 points on 6-of-12 shooting and 4-of-9 from behind the 3-point line.
It’s hard to find many takeaways from a shellacking like this over a bad team like the New York Knicks, fresh off the firing of their head coach (and former Miami Heat assistant) David Fizdale. If there is one lesson, it’s that they flexed their muscle from the opening tip and never let the lesser team feel like they had even the slightest chance to pull off an upset.
As for the Heat, they managed to come away with a stress-free win after a murderer’s row of recent opponents including the Sixers, Los Angeles Lakers and Dallas Mavericks over the past week.
With this light scrimmage out of the way, the Miami Heat will prepare to face the Utah Jazz at home on December 23rd.