What went wrong for the Miami Heat in their loss to the New York Knicks?

On Friday night, the Miami Heat lost to the New York Knicks in an NBA Cup group stage game. The Heat continue to be without star players Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro, but the Knicks were without Jalen Brunson and they lost OG Anunoby after five minutes.

Here's what went wrong for the Heat:

The Offense was where it needed to be. Defense? Not so much: The Heat have always been a team that is defense-first and, despite the fast pace and high-volume scoring, their defense has remained stronger than their offense this season.

The Heat themselves actually had a very nice offensive game, putting up a 90th percentile offensive rating, 84th percentile in the halfcourt and didn't turn the ball over excessively, (11 for the game, 88th percentile turnover percentage).

It was another game where the Heat finished with high-scoring numbers and six guys in double-figure scoring, with Norman Powell, (38 points), and Jaime Jaquez Jr., (23 points, nine rebounds, seven assists), leading the way. However, the Knicks out-did them in all of those categories.

For the game, the Heat gave up a 90th percentile offensive rating in the halfcourt, 95th percentile overall. The Knicks rank in the top five in percentage of their shot attempts coming from three and they took 48 percent of their shots from there tonight, sinking 21 of them.

This was most prevalent in the second quarter, where they sank ten threes and put up a scorching 176 offensive rating, converting on 65 percent of their field goals. Additionally, in every single quarter in this game, the Heat gave up an offensive rating that would lead the league.

Karl Anthony Towns was having his way with the Heat's defenders, both smaller and larger, in the first half, where he scored 31 points on 11-of-16 shooting. They did a better job of containing him in the second half, where he sank just two of his 10 shots.

The problem in the second half was none other than Landry Shamet, who converted on 10 of his 14 shots, finishing with 30 points in the second half alone. Jordan Clarkson, meanwhile, topped things off with 24 points. Allowing those two to combine for 60 points on 55 percent shooting and 17 free throws is entirely unacceptable for a team that prides themselves on defense.

On top of everything else, they also didn't turn the Knicks over, as they finished with just eight of them and a 98th percentile turnover percentage. The Knicks ended the game with an incredible four-to-one assist-to-turnover ratio, about twice as good as the league-leading number.

Rebounding, again: Although they're never an elite rebounding team, especially not offensively, the Heat are typically one of the better defensive rebounding teams in the league.

Last night, the Heat put a cherry on top of their bad defense by getting beat up on the defensive boards, continuing an ugly trend for the Heat. Although the Heat actually did a better job than they typically do on the offensive glass last night, finishing with more second chance points, they still allowed the Knicks to rebound about 40 percent of their misses, which ranks in the 90th percentile in the league.

Free Throws: The Knicks took nine more shots than the Heat. The Heat were able to mitigate some of that by putting up 34 free throws, (and a solid 68th percentile free throw rate). However, they missed nine of those free throws, which felt even more costly given the state of their defense and rebounding in this one. They have to control the controllables and make the shots that are literally considered free.

Alexander Toledo is a contributor to Miami Heat On SI and producer/co-host of the Five on the Floor podcast, covering the Heat and NBA. He can be reached at toledoalexander22@gmail.com. Twitter: @tropicalblanket

What went wrong for the Miami Heat in their loss to the New York Knicks?

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