Knicks Look To Carry Momentum Into Game 3

After An inspiring win behind their Big 3, the Knicks look to keep up their momentum as the series shifts to South Beach.

The New York Knicks will seek to win their second straight game in their Eastern Conference Semifinal battle with the Miami Heat on the road on Saturday afternoon. Last game, the Knicks didn’t necessarily wow on either end of the floor, and it was an ugly win fought for by some heroic effort from Jalen Brunson in the second half and some hustle plays from Isaiah Hartenstein. They’ll need a concerted effort from Brunson, Julius Randle, and RJ Barrett as it appears the Heat will be with their superstar in Jimmy Butler, who was out in Game 2 with an ankle sprain.

Here are some keys to Game 3 as New York tries to get a 2-1 lead on the road:

Defend Butler With All Your Hart

Josh Hart did a great job defending Butler in Game 1, but he still wound up with 25 points on 50% shooting. During his time on Butler, though, he only scored 12. It took a lot of switching for the Knicks to ensure that they kept Hart, or at least Barrett, on Butler and it led to a lot of easy shots from the rest of the Heat team, who have been absolutely blazing from three-point range for the entirety of this series.

While Butler obviously still had success against Hart, it’s still the best idea to ensure he stays on Butler as he provides the most pestering defense. Whether that be off the bench in relief of the equally formidable defender in Quentin Grimes or still in the starting lineup, it’ll be crucial to make sure he stays out of foul trouble and forces the rest of Miami’s squad to step up on offense.

Keep strong around the perimeter

Despite getting the win, the Knicks were still letting a lot of open three-point shots fly. In Game 2, the Heat shot 35% from long range, absolutely killing New York in transition and managing to get open as the Knicks’ drop on defense opens things up for any team around the perimeter. They are daring Miami to stay locked in from deep, and so far Miami is winning that challenge.

They need to consider whether they want to keep dropping on defense to protect the paint against Bam Adebayo, who hasn’t made much of an impact on offense so far in this series, or if they want to address the real problem being that they are allowing so many three-pointers. They have excellent perimeter defenders in Grimes, Immanuel Quickley, and Barrett and they should trust the strength of Mitchell Robinson, Hartenstein, and Randle to keep Adebayo limited on that end of the floor.

Bench strength

The Knicks’ bench was considered to be their biggest strength leading into this postseason potentially. So far, though, they’ve been lackluster aside from Hartenstein and some spark on defense from Grimes. Miami’s second unit outscored New York’s in the Knicks’ win 22-12, and in the Knicks’ loss to the Heat 30-15. Quickley has been the most disappointing off the bench thus far, not at all looking like the confident spark we saw come off the bench all of this regular season.

He showed some flashes of scoring in Game 2 with some signature floaters, but otherwise, he’s been struggling to find his three-point shot and has been less than reliable on defense, often getting fouls called on him which has limited his usage and minutes on the floor. A potential return of Hart to the bench could help open things up for him on both ends of the floor, allowing him to focus more on scoring and disrupting Miami’s defense and letting Hart focus more on distributing the ball. Without some sort of change to make life as easy as possible for Quickley in this series, it’ll be tough to see how he or the bench gets their fire back.

Injury report

Randle and Brunson are not on the Knicks’ latest injury report as of 5:30 pm on May 5, while the Heat has Butler and Caleb Martin listed as questionable.

The game will tip off at 3:30 pm on ABC.