Sam Navarro-USA TODAY Sports
Miami Boardwalk: Knicks' Failure to Rebound Puts Heat Up 3-1
Sometimes, it's just not your night. The New York Knicks are slowly discovering it might not be their series.
New York's magical season has officially been pushed to the brink of oblivion on Monday night, as their 109-101 loss at Kaseya Center to the Miami Heat put them down 3-1 in their best-of-seven Eastern Conference Semifinal series.
In contrast to their sleepy offensive performance over the weekend, the Knicks found a bit of a rhythm in the field, opening Game 4 by hitting 10 of their first 15 attempts. It was the start of a 32-point, 11-assist double-double for Jalen Brunson, who was joined the brotherhood of a double-decalogue in scoring by RJ Barrett (24) and Julius Randle (20), though the latter's tally was offset by six fouls and six turnovers.
Alas for the Knicks, Miami matched them blow-for-blow in the offensive attack before draining New York's will with second chances that sucked the life out of the visitors. The Heat's 13-8 edge on the offensive glass seemed innocent enough, but they built that lead through a 7-1 advantage in the final frame alone. Despite a respectable shooting night, the Knicks never got closer than six in the final frame thanks to Miami's extended possessions and lapses on both sides of the ball that proved deadly.
Bam Adebayo, Jimmy Butler, and Caleb Martin had three offensive rebounds each, with Adebayo helping the Heat maintain a tenuous, if not sustainable, lead that reached as high as 11 with a baker's dozen on the boards to go with 23 points. Butler once again came through with 27 points and 10 assists to put the eighth-seeded Heat at the cusp of moving forward. One more win would unseat the 1999 Knicks (who ironically defeated a top-ranked Miami group in the first round) as the most recent No. 8 seed to advance to a conference final round in the NBA playoffs.
The Knicks' dire circumstances were best personified by a third quarter that saw them shoot over 75 percent from the field (13-of-17) ... and yet they ended the period in a worse position than how they started, at least on the scoreboard: never able to create serendipity on both sides of the ball, the Knicks lost the quarter 34-33 to go into the final frame down by nine. Even when the Heat missed 12 of their first 15 shots at the onset of the final period, the struggle to clean up and haul in those misfires allowed Miami to kill clock and even create a brief double-digit lead.
Though the Knicks kept things manageable, unlike the one-sided nature of Game 3, their own offensive shortcomings multiplied the Heat's lead. As Miami failed to capitalize on its second chances in the fourth quarter, the Knicks in turn didn't take advantage: it took them over four minutes to hit a shot in the frame, their only sustenance in that span being three free throws from Brunson, who was also responsible for 11 of the Knicks' 21 assists (Miami ball movement led to 28 as a team).
The discord was apparent long before the final dozen: despite the success of the first quarter, they found themselves down 31-30 with Adebayo and Butler breaking out for a combined 16 points. They followed that up by shooting less than 29 percent in the second period, scoring just 18 and allowing Miami to jump out to its permanent lead.
Bench scoring likewise proved to be a problem for the Knicks: with Immanuel Quickley (ankle) out, New York reserves mustered only 10 points, a total that was beaten by Kyle Lowry (15) alone and tied by Caleb Martin.
New York will have a chance to stave off elimination at home on Wednesday night when the series moves back to Madison Square Garden (7:30 p.m. ET, TNT). Serendipitous history is not on the Knicks' side when it comes to crawling back from a 3-1 series deficit: the Knicks are 0-14 when facing such a disadvantage while the Heat are historically perfect in an equal number of 3-1 opportunities.
Geoff Magliocchetti is on Twitter @GeoffJMags
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