Between the Heat which aims for the Top 6 and Knicks who are aiming for the Top 3, this meeting had all the makings of a “must-win” for both teams but it was ultimately the Florida players who ended up leaving with the victory (109-99).
Thanks, in particular, to the 34 points of Terry Rozierbut also the contribution of Jimmy Butler (17 points, 6 assists, 5 rebounds), Bam Adebayo (15 points, 9 rebounds) and Haywood Highsmith (14 points, 8 rebounds), to respond to Donte DiVincenzo (31 points), Miles McBride (24 points) and Jalen Brunson (20 points, 10 assists).
Terry Rozier leads the way
A Terry Rozier who quickly put Miami on good rails (34-22) with his 3-point success in the first quarter: 12 points at 3/4. This advantage of around ten units, “Scary Terry” will take care of making it more profitable in the company of Jimmy Butler in the second act (58-43). Despite interior and exterior baskets from Donte DiVincenzo or Miles McBride, new York For his part, he struggles to hurt his opponents, because of his collective clumsiness.
After the break, in addition to Terry Rozier still inspired to shoot, it's Bam Adebayo who shows great things closer to the circle and that's what it takes to resist the DiVincenzo/McBride pair, but also Jalen Brunson, who will get his points on throws (83-73). On a good run in the fourth quarter, the Knicks suddenly went 12-0 which reset the counters to zero four minutes from the end, in the wake of Brunson and Bojan Bogdanovic (92-92).
Except that the Heat react well under pressure, with Haywood Highsmith, Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo flexing their muscles, before Terry Rozier, always him, drives home the point and delivers the Kaseya Center with a big 3-pointer, 34 seconds from the end. “GAME OVER” (109-99)!
TO REMEMBER
– Terry Rozier takes care of everything. Author of his best match in the colors of the Heat, Terry Rozier was responsible for launching his team in the right way in the first act, giving them around ten points in advance, before allowing them to stay the course in the next two quarters. On a good evening, the leader finally took charge of planting THE killer basket, and still at 3-points (8/11 in total!), in the last act, 34 seconds from the end. Just to avoid a bad surprise in Miami, which had seen New York come back from -16 to tie in the second half, but which therefore did not panic in the “money-time”.
– Miami clings to the Top 6. With this precious success, snatched at the end of a generally controlled game, the Heat (42-33) is still within reach of 6th place in the Eastern Conference, occupied by the Pacers, since there is no only 0.5 match difference between these two teams, who will face each other… Sunday evening. Direct qualification for the playoffs is at stake and the suspense remains with less than two weeks until the end of the regular season.
– New York overtaken by Orlando. The Florida franchises hurt the Knicks last night because, in addition to losing to the Heat, they were overtaken by the Magic in the standings. So, here they are now 5th in the East, and therefore deprived of any home advantage in the first round. But the record of the two teams is identical (44-31) and there are still seven games left to avoid it being the tiebreaker which determines who from New York or Orlando will inherit this coveted 4th place.
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How to read the stats? Min = Minutes; Shots = Successful shots / Attempted shots; 3pts = 3-points / 3-points attempted; LF = free throws made / free throws attempted; O = offensive rebound; D=defensive rebound; T = Total rebounds; Pd = assists; Fte: Personal fouls; Int = Intercepts; Bp = Lost balls; Ct: Against; +/- = Point differential when the player is on the field; Pts = Points; Eval: player evaluation calculated from positive actions – negative actions.
