Heat 97, Knicks 78
NEW YORK -- One of the NBA's stingiest defenses achieved the rare feat of holding star forward Carmelo Anthony scoreless over the final three quarters as the Miami Heat put the clamps on the New York Knicks for the second time in a week with a 97-78 victory on Friday night.
Guard Gerald Green poured in a season-high 25 points, 20 of them in the second half, forward Chris Bosh added 20 points and 5 rebounds, and guard Dwyane Wade had 17 points and 5 rebounds as the Heat (10-5) beat the Knicks (8-9) for the eighth straight time while sending them to their third straight loss. Miami center Hassan Whiteside, who entered leading the NBA in blocks per game (4.7), swatted five shots in the win.
Anthony tied a season-low with 11 points, all of which came in the first quarter, yet still tied for the team high in the loss with rookie forward Kristaps Porzingis. Forward Kevin Seraphin added 10 points off the bench.
The Knicks had the lead down to eight after a pair of free throws by forward Derrick Williams with 9:41 left in the game, before Green rattled off 10 points in a decisive 14-2 run that ballooned the lead to 92-72 with 5:56 remaining. Miami entered the game allowing the lowest field-goal percentage (40.5) and second-lowest points per game (92.6) of any team in the NBA before harassing the Knicks into 38 percent shooting.
New York's top two rim protectors, center Robin Lopez and Porzingis, each picked up their fourth foul within a minute of one another early in the third quarter and Miami pounced. The Heat turned a one-point lead into a 66-55 advantage with 5:01 to go in the period as Green dropped in six during the burst. The Heat kept the lead at 11 going into the fourth thanks to eight points in the period by Wade.
Bosh, coming off a season-low nine points in Wednesday's loss to Detroit, dropped in 16 of his 20 in the first half on 5-for-11 shooting and hitting a step-back jumper with six seconds left that gave Miami a 50-49 lead at the break. Four days after getting buried 52-30 in the first half in Miami, the Knicks looked much different early on thanks to a resurgent bench. Rookie guard Jerian Grant and Seraphin combined for 12 as the bench accounted for 25 first-half points after scoring a combined 22 in a pair of losses earlier in the week.
The Knicks had the lead as high as seven after Porzingis slammed home an alley-oop from Langston Galloway for a 43-36 advantage with 6:02 left in the half. The Heat responded with a 14-6 run keyed by a combined 10 points by Bosh and Wade in the final three minutes to take the lead.
New York, which suffered through sluggish starts in shooting under 38 percent during two straight losses heading into Friday, got untracked in the first quarter to grab a 27-26 lead on 47 percent shooting. Anthony dropped in all 11 of his first-half points on 4-for-5 shooting to key the solid start before the Heat stifled him for the remainder of the game.
NOTES: Miami F Luol Deng missed his second straight game with a strained left hamstring. He initially suffered the injury in a 95-78 win over the Knicks in Miami on Monday and missed a loss to the Detroit Pistons on Wednesday. ... Before squaring off on the court Friday, Heat G Dwyane Wade and F Chris Bosh ate Thanksgiving dinner at the New York home of Knicks F Carmelo Anthony with their wives. The three were teammates on the 2008 U.S. Olympic team that won gold in Beijing. ... The Knicks went 2-2 on their recent road trip to give them a 5-4 road mark this season after winning seven games away from Madison Square Garden all of last season. ... Knicks coach Derek Fisher on G Arron Afflalo, who averaged 12.1 points in eight games after missing the first eight games of the season with a hamstring injury: "I think (Afflalo and G Jose Calderon) have found a way to kind of add some stability to our first group. Arron is still working his way back into condition. He still has a presence when he's out on the court. He physically impacts the game on both sides of the ball."