Five takeaways from New York Knicks shocking Miami Heat 112-92
NEW YORK, NY – NOVEMBER 02: J.R. Smith #8 of the New York Knicks drives the ball against Ray Allen #34 and Dwyane Wade #3 of the Miami Heat at Madison Square Garden on November 2, 2012 in New York City.
The Miami heat are slipping on a downward slope if the last two games are any indication. Losing two in a row is not a big deal, unless you lose against the very worst team in the league, the Wizards and then follow it up with a loss versus the Knicks who are missing Carmelo Anthony.
The game was going neck and neck until the quarter Miami lead at the end of the first quarter, 26-23. New York tied it all at halftime at 53-53. Then the Knicks had a epic third quarter where they dropped 37 points on the Heat to take a 10 point lead.
Raymond Felton was the man of the night
Felton played like an all star. He shot 50% from the field and went 6-10 from the three point line en route to 27 points and 7 assists. Steve Novak gave the Knicks 18 points, JR Smith and Tyson Chandler both added 13. The Knicks had 6 players in double figures while the Heat only had four.
Bosh and Wade hurt the Heat
The other two third of the big three only had 3 field goals a piece. Wade shot 3-13 for 13 points and Bosh shot 3-12 for 12 and both of them collectively shot the Heat in the foot with their lacklusture performance. LeBron James almost had a triple double with 31 points, 10 rebounds and 9 assists. And the Heat lost. Previous game versus the Wizards, he had a triple double and the Heat lost. A pattern emerges here. Another pattern is that James has had 20 points or more in all the 17 games the Heat have played this season.
Zombie apocalypse impending
The Knicks are the oldest team in the league. Without Carmelo they shouldn’t be able to keep toe to toe with a team like Miami. Surprising as it is that the Knicks beat the Heat without Carmelo in such a convincing fashion, it was even more surprising to see the fossils of Kurt Thomas and Rasheed Wallace grab 7 rebounds each. Thomas grabbed 7 rebounds. in just 10 minutes. Extrapolating that to 40 minutes of playing time and he would have had 28 rebounds. Stats aren’t extrapolated like that, but neither is the oldest team in the league supposed to beat the Heat at their home court by 20 points. Wallace had 12 points and 7 boards in 14 minutes of playing time.
“3 pointers are Fool’s gold”- Pat Riley
The Knicks turned it into gold tonight. They shot 18-44 from 3 point range and in the third quarter they made 8 threes. Kidd and Smith both shot 3-8 from three point range and Steve Novak went 4-9. He would have done better only he hoisted a couple in garbage time. The Knicks made 8 3s in the fourth and were it not for a late 13-3 run by the Heat in the third quarter, the Knicks lead of 10 going into the fourth would have been bigger.
End of home court perfection
The Miami Heat came in with a 8-0 record at their home court, which was snatched away by the Knicks like a kid snatching candy from a baby. It shouldn’t have been so easy. The Knicks were the team who should have come in tentative, a little shrunken while entering the arches of the mighty Heat without Carmelo Anthony. There’s nothing quite like having to watch your team go to war without you while you languish as a helpless spectator from the sidelines. Carmelo’s wistfulness soon turned into delight and then outright joy as the Knicks began to bury the Heat under a barrage of three pointers. The Knicks had lost both their regular season games at the American Airlines Center last year by a average margin of 15.8 points.
The Knicks took this one by 20 and ended the Heat’s perfect record at home this season. They improved to 14-4 and made the Heat drop one and a half games behind them at 12-5 record.