The Knicks rallied to pull out a 116-112 overtime win over the Miami Heat on Sunday night.
Here are some takeaways...
- The Knicks were letting it fly early on with four different players knocking down a three in the opening frame but they found themselves trailing, as the Heat were dominating both Karl-Anthony Towns and Mitchell Robinson down-low -- putting together 24 of their 27 points inside the paint.
Miami missed seven of their eight attempts from behind the arc, but they couldn’t miss from just about everywhere else, shooting 13-of-22 from the field. 22-year-old big man Kel'el Ware was unstoppable in the first quarter, putting up eight points while reeling in three board and blocking three shots.
- New York was able to cut the deficit back down to two points, but then their offense went ice cold and the Heat's hot shooting continued. Miami went on their longest scoring run of the season (16-0) before Towns knocked down a free throw with just over a minute left in the frame.
- Just like that, New York found themselves trailing by double digits heading into the break. They simply had no answer for the big bodied duo of Ware and Bam Adebayo, who were dominating things down-low for a combined 24 first half points and limiting Towns on the other end.
- Miami has had problems keeping second-half leads all season to this point, and that was the case again in this one. The Heat knocked down 15 consecutive shots from the end of the second to early in the third, but then they went on a stretch where they missed five in a row -- which opened the window for the Knicks.
- Jalen Brunson was finally able to get going after a very quiet first half showing. New York found themselves trailing by 19 at one point (79-60), but they put together a 10-0 run towards the end of the third -- highlighted by a beautiful behind the back Brunson feed -- cutting the deficit back down to eight heading into the final frame.
- The teams went back-and-forth trading baskets the first few minutes of the fourth, but as always Brunson found a way to come through. The Knicks went on an 11-0 run to take their first lead of the game on a Deuce McBride jumper with just over two and a half minutes remaining.
- Herro followed that up with a personal 5-0 run to reestablish a four-point Heat advantage, but New York again answered back again -- and after trading stops we were headed for overtime. Unsurprisingly, it was Brunson who got the scoring started early in the extra session and the Knicks next looked back, pulling out their second consecutive victory.
- Brunson was outstanding after putting up just five points in the first half, finishing with 31 on 13-of-25 shooting from the field and six assists. Towns put together another double-double on 19 points and 16 rebounds, while OG Anunoby was terrific on both ends as well, contributing 23 points and nine rebounds of his own.
- Mikal Bridges shot just 2-of-11 from the field and he saw himself glued to bench down the stretch in the fourth and overtime. Tom Thibodeau opted to roll with the hot hand off the bench in McBride, who contributed 12 points on 4-of-10 shooting, including three three-pointers.
- Adebayo was outstanding for Miami, knocking down 12 of his 16 shots for a team-high 30 points. Herro had 22 points of his own but he shot an ugly 2-of-11 from behind the arc.
Game MVP: Jalen Brunson
Who else? Brunson continues stepping up and putting the Knicks on his back when they need it the most.