Heat at Knicks
The Miami Heat are going back and forth with Orlando for the No. 8 seed in the Eastern Conference and are part of a group of five teams angling for three spots. The Heat will try to take advantage of the team with the NBA's worst record when they visit the New York Knicks on Saturday.
Miami dropped one-half game behind the Magic after losing their head-to-head battle on Tuesday but bounced back at home two nights later by posting a 105-99 triumph over Dallas. The Heat sit one game behind sixth-place Detroit in the East but entered Friday just 1 1/2 ahead of 10th-place Charlotte in a race that figures to last into the final week of the regular season. The Knicks have been very helpful of late to teams looking to improve their playoff standings and watched their latest losing streak reach five games with Thursday's 117-92 home setback against Toronto. "I can't tell you exactly when or where, when it's going to happen for us, but it's coming soon, and once we get that team here that people have to really be concerned about the way we guard and the way we come at you offensively, that will turn," New York coach David Fizdale told reporters of his rebuilding team.
TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, FS Sun (Miami), MSG (New York)
ABOUT THE HEAT (37-38): Goran Dragic posted a triple-double on Thursday with 23 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists - his best performance since returning from knee surgery last month. "He's had moments like this already," coach Erik Spoelstra told reporters. "But when you're coming back from an injury, just sometimes you feel better on certain days than you do other days. That's just the nature of your body healing." The 32-year old Dragic had scored a total of 11 points on 4-of-24 shooting over his previous three contests.
ABOUT THE KNICKS (14-61): New York is counting on improvement from its young players and a very successful dip into free agency this summer in order to turn things around and is seeing some encouraging signs from the youngsters. Rookie center Mitchell Robinson came off the bench Thursday to register season highs of 19 points and 21 rebounds to go with a pair of blocks in 31 minutes. That marked the 23rd consecutive game in which Robinson blocked at least two shots as he is averaging 2.4 on the season.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Heat C Bam Adebayo collected 11 points and 16 rebounds on Thursday for his second double-double in three games.
2. Knicks PG Emmanuel Mudiay was the lone starter to score in double figures on Thursday as he recorded 11 points.
3. Miami won two of the first three meetings this season, including a 106-97 victory in New York on Jan. 27.