Erik Spoelstra Made NBA History In Heat-Knicks Game

Erik Spoelstra made NBA history on Sunday.

On Sunday afternoon, the Miami Heat defeated the New York Knicks by a score of 108-101 in Game 1 of their second-round playoff series at Madison Square Garden.

The Heat now have a 1-0 lead in the series, and Game 2 will be back in New York City on Tuesday evening.    

With the victory, head coach Erik Spoelstra made NBA history by moving up on the all-time playoff wins list (101).  

He came into the day tied with Hall of Famer Larry Brown.  

Via The NBA: "Congrats to Erik Spoelstra of the @MiamiHEAT for moving to 5th all-time in Playoff wins"

Spoelstra has been the head coach of the Heat since 2009, and they have won the NBA Championship two times (and been to the NBA Finals five times) during that span. 

This year, the Heat had an up-and-down regular season and finished with a 44-38 record which got them the seventh seed in the Eastern Conference. 

However, they lost their first play-in tournament game to the Atlanta Hawks, so they are the eighth seed. 

Despite the mediocre year, the franchise has been to the Eastern Conference Finals two times in the previous three seasons.  

In the first round, they had a massive upset over Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks (who were the first seed), and they have the talent to make a deep run. 

THE HEAT ELIMINATE THE NO. 1 SEED BUCKS IN 5 🔥 pic.twitter.com/EfSbEyh918

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) April 27, 2023

The winner of the series between the Heat and Knicks will advance to the Eastern Conference Finals and face off against either the Boston Celtics or the Philadelphia 76ers. 

More on the Miami Heat can be read here