Heat play lockdown defense in 19-point win over Knicks

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Ric Bucher

FOX Sports NBA Analyst

Melissa Rohlin

FOX Sports NBA Writer

The early start, the infamous South Beach flu, or Florida’s energy-sapping humidity for visitors. Whatever you want to point to as the culprit, the New York Knicks fell victim to it as the Miami Heat, a step quicker all game long, now hold a 2-1 best-of-seven series lead after their 105-86 win.

Actually, there might be a fourth factor for the Heat’s wire-to-wire victory: their ability to create shots strictly from offensive execution. Neither team is blessed with offensive playmakers who can single-handedly tear holes in a defense so wide either they or a teammate is assured a wide-open look. Both Miami’s Jimmy Butler and the Knicks’ Jalen Brunson are masters at finding air space to score themselves, but they rarely beat their man so decisively it forces a full rotation from the defense.

But the Heat appear to have a far more sophisticated system that creates good looks at the basket out of synchronized player and ball movement, whereas the Knicks rely far more heavily on Brunson’s single-handed brilliance. With Brunson struggling early — 4 for 11 in the first half — the Knicks collectively had trouble getting clean looks, missing their first 15 shots outside of the paint.

The distribution of assists for the respective teams is a tell: not one Heat player had more than four assists Saturday, but four of them — Butler, Bam Adebayo, Gabe Vincent and Kyle Lowry — had at least three. Whereas Brunson had more than half (8) of the Knicks’ 15 assists.

Here’s another one: while Butler made a triumphant return from the sprained ankle suffered near the end of Game 1 and kept him out of Game 2, he re-injured it midway through the third quarter and played only 3 1/2 minutes in the fourth. That didn’t prevent the Heat from still outscoring the Knicks over the final 12 minutes, 18-16.

That the Miami also outscored New York 50-36 in the paint is another indicator that their execution is creating better looks. The Heat are giving away inches in height at almost every position yet were able to take 50 of their 90 shots from the paint. The Knicks? More than half of their shots were from the mid- or long range (53 of 91).

Living off Brunson’s brilliance during the regular season was enough to give New York the league’s third-best offensive rating, but giving Heat coach Erik Spoelstra time to create a defensive game plan has clearly tilted the scales. The Knicks came into the game with the 10th-best offensive rating among the 16 playoff teams and the Lakers are the only team ranked lower that hasn’t already been eliminated.

And that rating is sure to be even lower after Saturday’s performance.

Ric Bucher is an NBA writer for FOX Sports. He previously wrote for Bleacher Report, ESPN The Magazine and The Washington Post and has written two books, “Rebound,” on NBA forward Brian Grant’s battle with young onset Parkinson’s, and “Yao: A Life In Two Worlds.” He also has a daily podcast, “On The Ball with Ric Bucher.” Follow him on Twitter @RicBucher.