Heat at Knicks
The Miami Heat have been dominant on their home court with 17 wins in 18 games, but are still looking for the same rhythm on the road as they prepare to visit the struggling New York Knicks on Sunday afternoon. The Heat have lost three of four away from AmericanAirlines Arena to drop to 10-10 overall on the road after coughing up a 12-point halftime lead in a 117-113 setback at Brooklyn on Friday.
“We’re still searching for maturity on the road as a basketball team, and we didn’t take a step forward in that department tonight,” Miami coach Erik Spoelstra told reporters after his team was beaten 56-43 on the glass Friday. “We’re much better than that. It’s not an indictment on who we are as a team. We’re a good basketball team. Our group knows that.” The Heat, who hold the second spot in the Eastern Conference, go for their fifth straight victory against the Knicks and seventh in eight meetings after rolling to a 129-114 win in Miami on Dec. 20 despite getting just nine points from leading scorer Jimmy Butler. New York has followed up a season-high, three-game winning streak with five consecutive losses after a 123-111 setback against New Orleans on Friday without its top two scorers Marcus Morris Sr. (neck) and Julius Randle (personal). “They had a number of different guys stepping up hitting shots. They had a lot of 3s early in the game,” Knicks forward Taj Gibson told reporters after scoring a season-high 19 points. “We tried to slow them down, but we came up short.”
TIME: 3:30 p.m. ET. TV: FS Sun, MSG
ABOUT THE HEAT (27-11): Butler, who leads the team in scoring (20.6) and assists (6.5) after posting 33 points Friday, told reporters of the team’s road struggles: “We just need to do better. … Good teams handle business home and away.” Veteran guard Goran Dragic (15.9 points) is scoring 20.3 and dishing out 7.3 assists over the last three, while center Bam Adebayo (15.9 points, 10.5 rebounds) scored 60 total points in the same span. Forward Justise Winslow (11.3 points) returned Wednesday against Indiana after missing a month, but will be held out for the second straight game due to lingering back issues.
ABOUT THE KNICKS (10-29): Morris and Randle, who combine to score almost 38 points per game, could miss another game and New York will need more players to step up on the offensive end. Rookie guard RJ Barrett, who is third on the team at 13.8 points per game, had 16 against New Orleans and hopes to rebound from a rough effort against the Heat last month when he managed to score just two on 1-of-10 shooting from the field. Guard Reggie Bullock is averaging 10 points in six games since being signed as a free agent and the 28-year-old poured in a season-best 15 on Friday, draining 6-of-11 from the floor.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. New York PG Elfrid Payton is averaging 13.8 points - more than four over his season mark - over the last four games.
2. The Heat made 18-of-38 from 3-point range in the first meeting this season, including 6-of-10 from SF Duncan Robinson.
3. Knicks PF Bobby Portis, averaging just nine points the last four games, scored a season-high 30 at Miami last month.