Knicks Keep Cool Sans Randle, Douse Heat to Inch Closer to Playoffs
The New York Knicks found a handle without Randle in a crucial game against the Miami Heat.
Though their All-Star was forced to leave early with an ankle injury, the Knicks bolstered their NBA postseason case with a 101-92 victory over Miami at Madison Square Garden. Though Jalen Brunson returned, Immanuel Quickley once again came up big to the tune of a team-best 24 points off the bench. Starter Quentin Grimes was one behind him as the pair shot a united 16-of-27 from the field.
Things are bittersweet with the loss of Randle, who left in the latter stages of the second quarter after rolling his left ankle on the sneaker of Bam Adebayo and did not return to the bench for the second. But the Knicks (44-33) are sitting relatively pretty in the Eastern Conference standings: with five games left on each side, New York is now four games ahead of the seventh-place Heat (40-37) and will clinch a spot among the automatic six postseason spots. The Knicks also clinched a 3-1 season series victory over Miami, giving them a tiebreaker if the Heat go on a late run.
For most of the affair, the fourth and final meeting between the Knicks and Heat resembled the physical get-togethers of the 1990s which likewise carried major implications for the NBA playoff picture. Miami led 23-19 after the first as the two sides struggled to score, uniting for a 36 percent output from the field in the frame. Though Brunson came back after a two-game absence, the star power struggled to shine for the Knicks, as Randle and RJ Barrett were a combined 0-for-8 in the first dozen.
The Heat found a groove in the second to take a lead that reached as high as 10 before the Knicks bench started to help them inch back in, their 7-of-10 effort in the second partly overshadowed by Randle's injury. Those reserve efforts narrowed the gap before Jalen Brunson gave the Knicks a halftime lead with a buzzer-beating triple.
After a narrow third where neither team led by more than four, the Knicks played the same five men in the fourth quarter, placing starters Barrett and Grimes with bench support Quickley, Josh Hart, and Isaiah Hartenstein. That group held a one-point lead near the midway mark of the frame before the Knicks took over to the tune of a 15-7 run over the final 6:19. Grimes and Hart accounted for all but one of the first 11 points in that stretch while the defense held its own after allowing 30 in the third by forcing Miami into, ironically, a 6-of-19 showing to seal the win. An eight-point, four-rebound showing from Hart in his extended work helped the Knicks go up by as much as 11, justifying the extended rest for the returning Brunson.
Seemingly destined for the Play-In Tournament after topping the Eastern Conference standings last season, the Heat was led by Gabe Vincent's 21 points and he and Duncan Robinson sank four triples each. Miami has now lost three in a row but still has a chance at automatic playoff entry as they're 1.5 games behind the sixth-place Brooklyn Nets (who have a game in hand). The Heat also sit 1.5 games ahead of Atlanta and Toronto in the Play-In standings. As it stands, they'd host the eighth-place Hawks in the current set-up and advance to the seventh seed of the playoffs with a win there.
Keeping the Heat cold allowed the Knicks' defense to secure its first sub-100-point showing since Feb. 27's win over Boston.
New York has a busy weekend ahead, starting with a brief road trip to battle the Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday night (7:30 p.m. ET, MSG).
Geoff Magliocchetti is on Twitter @GeoffJMags
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