The Heat defeated the New York Knicks (105-86) this Saturday in Miami to take a 2-1 lead in this Eastern Semifinal thanks to Jimmy Butler adding 28 points after missing the second game due to 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 controlling the game from start to finish.
The Knicks performed very poorly on offense with only 34.1% shots from the field and a measly 20% in triples (8 of 40).
Jalen Brunson contributed 20 points (7-of-20 shooting, 0-of-5 on 3-pointers), 6 rebounds and 8 assists, and Julius Randle was way off his league with only 10 points (4-of-15 on basket attempts, 0 of 5 on triples) and 14 rebounds.
Immanuel Quickley retired from the New Yorkers in the fourth quarter with knee pain.
The fourth game of this tie will also be played in Miami on Monday.
BUTLER RETURNS FINE
Butler started strong, opening the scoring for the locals and leading the Heat to win in the first quarter by 13 points.
More successful on offense and focused on defense, the Miami men had 10 points off their star in that period and reached the end of the first quarter 8 points ahead (29-21) against some of the Knicks with their sights wide. (8 of 25 shooting, 0 of 4 3-pointers).
The Heat, who had made just one 3-pointer out of seven attempts in the first quarter, nailed two straight off backups Duncan Robinson and Haywood Highsmith to extend their lead.
Another Lowry triple, also as part of the second unit, opened the Knicks wound to -19 (44-25), still with more than eight minutes left until the break.
The Knicks’ first two 3-pointers came from Quickley, but Butler, who spent most of the second quarter more focused on defense than offense, responded to the shrinking Heat lead with 5 points, putting his team at halftime. by a remarkable margin (58-44).
IMPOSSIBLE KINS
With the two teams shining more on defense than on offense, the third set began with another run for the Heat as Butler, Strus and Adebayo 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 struggling to score points in a tough game under the hoops in which the Heat held a 17-point lead going into the final 12 minutes (87-70).
However, that third quarter ended with a brawl in which Cody Zeller shoved Randle, Isaiah Hartenstein shoved Zeller, and Caleb Martin Hartenstein answered with another shove (except Randle, they all got a technical punch).
While Butler rested, Adebayo hung on the edge and Lowry continued to put in good minutes from the bench to put Miami up to +22, which looked final (95-73 with 7.49 left).
However, the Knicks responded with an 0–8 run to come within 13 points with over four minutes to play, so Butler returned to court to silence an unlikely epic comeback attempt by the visitors for good.
Source: El heraldo
I’m George Gonzalez, a professional journalist and author at The Nation View. With more than 5 years of experience in the field, I specialize in covering sports news for various print media outlets. My passion for writing has enabled me to craft stories that capture the attention of readers all over the world.
