The New York Knicks (1-2) are looking to reach .500 in the standings as they prepare to battle the Miami Heat (2-1) on Wednesday night. Picking up a win against their stout Eastern Conference rivals won’t be an easy task, but three key factors could determine whether or not the Knicks walk away victorious.
Knicks need ball movement & 3-point shooting against the Heat’s elite defense
After the Knicks dropped their third game of the season to the Cleveland Cavaliers, All-Star Karl-Anthony Towns came out and said that a film review would be needed to see how he and his teammates could maximize their output from three-point range. The Knicks are third-worst in the NBA in assists per game (20.3 APG), and fifth-worst as a team in three-point makes (10.7 3PM), yet they shoot 37.6 percent from long range, which is eighth-best in the Association.
Something isn’t adding up. It’s not talent. It’s not the early juncture of the season and it’s not a lack of effort. The Knicks just aren’t flowing the way they should or need to be offensively.
New York will have needed to evaluate what’s kept them from exploding in the scoring department in order to come correct against a Heat team that’s holding opponents to a stingy 41.7 percent shooting from the field (No. 3 league-wide) and 35.2 percent from deep (No. 11). They’ll have to be smart with their passes, as the Heat are also not allowing teams to set each other up, conceding the second-fewest assist rate in the league at 20.7 APG.
Knicks must play up on Terry Rozier, Tyler Herro & Jaime Jacquez from beyond the arc
New York could find success giving Heat stars Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo space on the perimeter and keying in on Terry Rozier, Tyler Herro, and Jaime Jacquez Jr. from outside. Rozier is leading the ball club in scoring with 19.3 PPG and is converting 40 percent of his threes. Herro is Miami’s second-leading scorer, but most aggressive shooter, and his 18.3 PPG are fueled by his 2.7 3PM. Jacquez Jr. is showing himself to be the Heat’s most productive bench player and is converting on a scary 85.7 percent of his 2.3 three-point attempts per night.
Miami has always been liable to go nuclear from distance. However, they now have four elite playmakers who can find their own shot and pressure defenses with their versatility. Albeit, if the Knicks can entice their franchise player Butler and Adebayo to take ill-advised outside shots while chasing their three sharpshooters off of screens and off the three-point line, they could stifle the Heat offense as much as possible.
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Knicks could use a huge game from Jalen Brunson or Karl-Anthony Towns
Mikal Bridges looks similar to the player he was in 2023-24 for the Brooklyn Nets behind his 18.7 PPG and the Knicks are getting great output from Josh Hart and his 16 PPG. But when Towns is the team’s fourth-highest scorer at 15.3 PPG, while taking only 9.3 field goals a night, there are no lines to read between.
It is apparent that the Knicks need more scoring across the board. Their leading scorer, Jalen Brunson, is scoring at a rate of 5.7 points less than he was a year ago, but at least he’s doing so on 19 shots a game. Priority No. 1 for the Knicks should be getting Towns more involved in conjunction with the team finding quicker and more efficient ways to score. His 50.0/66.7/93.3 percent shooting line from the field, three, and free throw line are unprecedented of for a player of his size. He deserves more responsibilities. After that, Brunson needs to start feeling himself as the MVP candidate he was last season.
In a perfect world, if the Knicks get a combination of 25-plus points from Brunson and over 20 from Towns while getting more of the same from Bridges and Hart, as well as Miles McBride and Cam Payne off the bench, they should be able to at least match, and likely overwhelm the Heat on the scoreboard. But as the history of their play against one another shows, as well as play within the conference, it’ll likely be a grinded-out affair from start to finish.
