Following New York’s victory over the Houston Rockets on Monday night, the Knicks’ steadfastly strict coach Tom Thibodeau shared his usual bottom-line analysis with a grin.
Either the Knicks or the Miami Heat will have a great time on Wednesday night and make the other team miserable.
When New York hosts Miami in their final regular-season meeting, the Knicks and Heat will each want to make it easier for themselves to finish in the top six of the Eastern Conference.
After cruising to a 137-115 victory over the visiting Rockets on Monday night, the Knicks were off on Tuesday. After losing to the Toronto Raptors by a score of 106-92 on Tuesday, the Heat will be playing their second consecutive road game.
After snapping a losing streak of three games, New York (43-33) is still fifth in the East, two and a half games ahead of the sixth-place Brooklyn Nets (40-35) and three games ahead of the Heat (40-36). The playoff spots go to the top six teams in each conference, and the clubs in seventh through tenth place compete in a play-in tournament to pick the top two seeds.
The Knicks would have the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Heat if they scored another victory on Wednesday, which would further solidify their position in the playoffs. Miami won the most recent meeting in Florida on March 22 by a score of 127-120, despite the fact that New York holds a 2-1 lead in the series.
In their last two games, the Heat have struggled in a playoff-like setting. Miami gradually allowed the Raptors to pull away on Tuesday after losing 129-100 to the visiting Nets on Saturday. After coming back from a 10-point deficit in the first quarter, Toronto led 53-47 at the half. After that, the Raptors outscored the Heat 31-20 in the third quarter, never allowing Miami to close the gap in the fourth.
For the fourteenth consecutive game, Miami allowed at least 100 points, continuing its lengthy defensive slump. The Heat also gave up 62 points in the paint, which is a lot more than Miami’s season average of 46.1 points allowed per game in the paint, which is tied with the Cleveland Cavaliers for the second-fewest in the NBA. With 45.9 points per game, the Knicks lead this group.
It’s possible that both teams won’t have key players for the crucial game.
Jalen Brunson, the point guard for the New York Knicks, missed his second game in a row on Monday because of a sprained right hand. He was listed as questionable for Wednesday.
Heat monitor Jimmy Steward, who drives the group with 22.8 focuses per game, was sidelined Tuesday because of a neck injury.
