Knicks at Heat, Game 4: Halftime Thoughts From South Beach

The New York Knicks face another halftime deficit against the Miami Heat, but they're sitting far prettier in Game 4 than they were on Saturday.

The fact that an eight-point deficit is seen as a step in the right direction may say more about the New York Knicks than they'd care to admit, but it's a somewhat desirable trend nonetheless. 

Though they scored only 18 points in the second quarter, the Knicks kept relative pace with the Miami Heat in Game 4 of their Eastern Conference Semifinal series, trailing 56-48 as they seek to avoid falling behind 3-1 in the best-of-seven series.

Bam Adebayo has taken over for the Heat with 16 points and seven rebounds while Jalen Brunson (13) and Julius Randle (12) lead New York with 25 united points. 

What can we gather from the Knicks' first half showing?

It's About How You Start?

The Knicks are keeping pace in the ball game thanks to a relatively hot start: unlike Saturday's efforts, which seemed doomed from the start, the Knicks were able to hang tough with Miami despite interior penetration from Adebayo and Co. Brunson has shown little ill effects of the ankle injury that has plagued him throughout the series, showing no hesitance to jump in front of driving Floridians. It's great to see the Knicks' stars show up for their biggest event of the season even in a relatively dire effort, though each has done their part: Randle pulled in a team-best five rebounds and Brunson had helpers on six conversions from the field. 

Grimes' Time Live

With Josh Hart struggling offensively, the Knicks allowed Quentin Grimes to re-assume his spot in the starting five. The sophomore has rewarded such faith in the early going, putting in two triples (part of a 6-of-15 output for the Knicks over the first 24 after the dreadful 20 percent tally on Saturday), hauling in four rebounds, and stealing two others. That, however, hasn't been enough to fully sustained the Knicks' defense, which gave up more than 55 against the Heat for the second straight first half (they had never done so in any of the first five playoff series against South Beach).

Bench Depress

The Knicks felt the loss of Immanuel Quickley, held out of Monday's game entirely, as they mustered a mere six points off the bench (only two from Hart, who's 1-of-4 from the field and was charged with two fouls). Miami, on the other hand, partly built their lead with 17 off the bench, including seven from Kyle Lowry, who sank all three of his attempts from the field.

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Geoff Magliocchetti is on Twitter @GeoffJMags

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