Mateo’s Hoop Diary: Heat push Knicks to the brink of elimination

Amelia Earhart will come back before the Knicks in round two. Game five is at Madison Square Garden Wednesday, but New York has no answer for Jimmy Butler.

Through eight playoff games, Butler has the third-highest scoring average in the postseason (33.5) but is fifth in total points logged. Stephen Curry, Devin Booker, Nikola Jokić, and Kevin Durant have more, but Butler has played fewer games than each.

The first half of Game 4 belonged to Bam Adebayo. He was invigorated like Frankenstein‘s monster fresh off the operating table. Adebayo looked for the ball after shielding handlers with a screen to get inside. Following two quarters, he had 16 points and seven rebounds.

On one early connection, Kevin Love beat Randle off the dribble from the wing to the lane, forcing New York’s shot blocker to leave Adebayo open for a hook. It was the best impersonation of Tim Hardaway and Alonzo Mourning all evening.

Max Strus added eight points through two quarters, nailing two triples as the trailing guard in transition, plus a slam after a pick.

On the Knicks’ side, Julius Randle and Jalen Brunson were the main culprits dealing damage. Both had efficiently recorded double figures in the score column. Randle identified mismatches and navigated past Adebayo and Butler on rim attacks. Brunson found separation through his dribble or baiting Heatles into biting on his fake for a runway to the cup.

At intermission, the Heat was ahead 56-48. New York recovered seven offensive rebounds, turning into seven second-chance points, and picked up five loose balls. But its bench had six points. Miami was in target practice, shooting 52.4% from the field and 44.4% behind the arc. The Heat’s reserve crew had 17.

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Butler was on cruise control until the second half, but he had nine points with four rebounds and four assists. On one of his scores, Love launched a full-court outlet pass that turned into a dunk for JB.

In the third frame, Butler lost Grimes behind Adebayo’s pindown and seized the baseline for a layup plus the foul. Then, he cut left into the paint, assisted by #13’s ghost screen and finished with his left hand as Mitchell Robinson was on his back hip. Under a minute left in the quarter, he isolated Josh Hart in the mid-post and escaped into the paint for a three-foot basket.

In this interval, Butler had five more dimes. He exploited the Knicks ball watching on defense, finding cutters or delivering the pass after double teams.

The visitors logged 76.5% of their attempts in the third quarter, mainly behind RJ Barrett’s four consecutive baskets and Don Julio’s three field goals. Defensively, Randle picked up his third and fourth fouls.

In the fourth quarter, Randle played nearly nine pointless minutes before crashing into Strus and fouling out in crunch time with the Heat up seven.

Both offenses fell apart in the final period. The difference late was the Heat recovering seven offensive rebounds that morphed into seven backbreaking second-chance points and the Knicks couldn’t defend without fouling. Nine penalties sent the hosts to the line for 10 tries, making seven.

Brunson (13) and Barrett (7) were the only Knickerbockers to score in the fourth quarter. Miami only allowed four New York bench points in the second half, too, coming in the third quarter.

The Heat won 109-101 behind Adebayo and Butler’s strongest playoff game together this year.

At the postgame presser, coach Erik Spoelstra praised his leading duo’s production and said they are at the top of the food chain as two-way competitors.

“They can impact and put their fingertips on playoff games, on any given possession, defensively or offensively,” Spo said. “They’ve played in a lot of playoff games together, so we’re following them.”

In the visiting press room, the atmosphere was doom and gloom. Randle was asked about the Knicks getting beat in the offensive rebounding battle. He responded, “Maybe they want it more. That’s been who we are all year, and we got to find a way to step up and make those plays if we want to keep this season alive.”

Paul Castellano had a better chance of being revived outside of Sparks Steak House than the Knicks currently do.