From the underdogs to looking like real contenders, the Miami Heat and the New York Knicks have been a pleasure to watch this postseason. The Knicks have been dominant with their play from Jalen Brunson and the crew. Jimmy Butler has put this Heat team on his back. They both have very good reasons to believe they can make it to the Eastern Conference finals. Let’s see what these teams need to do to get there.
Heat Keys to Success
Even without Tyler Herro, the Miami Heat offense has seemed to find its stride as they lead these playoffs in points per game with 124 and in three-point percentage with 45 percent. While the injuries leave us with a hypothetical story for the rest of the playoffs, we have to talk about what happened. Butler and the Heat took it to the one-seeded Bucks on both ends of the floor. An absolute masterclass by Erik Spoelstra.
The first key to victory for Miami is the stats mentioned in the previous paragraph. They need to keep up the elite offense and three-point shooting. The Knicks are allowing the second-least points in the paint these playoffs. The Miami Heat won’t be able to put much pressure on the rim with how Bam Adebayo is currently playing, so their three-ball will need to be on point. Guys like Max Strus and Gabe Vincent have been shooting 41.2 and 42.4 percent respectively from downtown. They’ll need to keep that up.
The second key for the Heat is they have to find a way to attack the glass. The Knicks are fifth in postseason rebounding, while the Heat are 12th. A way they could solve this is to run double-big minutes of Adebayo and Kevin Love to attempt to match Mitchell Robinson. The real issue is the offensive boards. The Knicks lead the playoffs, and the Heat are second to last. They only rank above the Nets. Get hungry on the boards, or the Knicks will run up and down the court at their pace.
My final key for Miami to beat New York is to limit the points off of turnovers. The Heat allow 19 points off turnovers in the playoffs. Good for third-worst. They have to take care of the ball and, when they don’t, get back and play good transition defense. They have hustle guys alongside Butler, so there is no reason they can’t get out and run with the Knicks.
Knicks Keys to Victory
The Knicks certainly turned what was supposed to be the best first-round series into a one-sided affair. Brunson did his usual thing and RJ Barrett had some solid play to end the series. Josh Hart has completely changed this team in so many ways, but his biggest impact is it gives them a guy who (no pun intended) puts his heart into every play no matter what. Every contender needs a guy like that.
The Knicks need to continue not allowing a lot of second-chance opportunities. They rank fourth in the playoffs in the least amount of them allowed and it needs to stay that way. Giving this red-hot Miami team extra shots can be very demoralizing. Expect Hart and Robinson to help crash the boards off of the rare Miami misses.
The second key for New York is better play from Julius Randle. 14.4 points per game on sub-44 percent shooting is unheard of and unacceptable from an All-NBA level player. He was bailed out by the rest of his squad stepping up and a Cavaliers team that is a few pieces away. Butler is coming in as the hottest player in basketball so Randle will need to get back to that All-star kind of play we are used to.
Finally, RJ Barrett needs to keep up the level of play he showed in the last three games. The former third-overall pick started to look like such, averaging 22 points on nearly 56 percent from the field. If Brunson brings his normal play and Randle gets back to normal, Barrett will be getting the third-most amount of attention and that calls for a breakout series.
Final Thoughts And Predictions
This is going to be fun. We are talking about two teams with passionate personalities and strong mentalities. Between the madness of Butler and the depth of this Knicks squad, it is hard to make a choice. With that being said, Miami will need a consistent second-shot creator to win this series and the Knicks beat them in that category. Knicks in seven games.
Follow me on Twitter for more sports news and analysis! Also, tune into the Sideline Summit podcast on all platforms. Follow us on all platforms for sports news and analysis. Be sure to check out some other Belly Up Articles here.
