C.J. McCollum and Isaiah Thomas Pick the Miami Heat to Win the Series Against the New York Knicks

The Miami Heat play host to the New York Knicks for Game 3 Saturday.

The Miami Heat are shocking everyone with their playoff run after a subpar regular season, causing some to hop on the hype train. 

Among them are New Orleans Pelicans guard C.J. McCollum and former NBA All-Star Isaiah Thomas. Thomas and McCollum praised the Heat on a new episode of The CJ McCollum Show with ESPN’s Israel Gutierrez.

They both picked the Heat to defeat the New York Knicks in the Eastern Conference semifinals.

“It goes back to Miami, Jimmy [Butler] gets six days in between games because he took off already,” McCollum said. “I think they win Game 3, win Game 4, and lose Game 5. So I would say Miami in 6, but that’s basically five because they should’ve won Game 2 as well.”

Damn @CJMcCollum @isaiahthomas & @IzGutierrez all picking the #miamiheat to beat the #knicks . They on the chalkboard pic.twitter.com/d8LGRoZKxm

— Big steppah (@CliffNyk) May 4, 2023

The Heat are anticipating superstar Jimmy Butler to return for Game 3 in hopes of giving them the edge they were missing Tuesday night. Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said there’s no update on Butler’s injury, but a sign of encouragement was Butler training on his Instagram story last night.

“Imma go with the Heat,” Thomas said. “Piggybacking on what you’re saying, the Knicks played so well and they still snuck a win out. That’s tough, and that’s bulletin board things you write down. It’s like, ‘We didn’t have Jimmy Butler, we don’t have Herro either, and we still had an opportunity to win Game 2 on the road. I got the Heat in seven.”

Jayden Armant is a contributor to Inside the Heat. He is a student at Howard University. He can be reached at jayden.armant@bison.howard.edu or follow him on Twitter @jaydenarmant.