Knicks absorb first punch in Throwback Battle with Miami Heat

The Knicks walked off the field at Madison Square Garden with slumped shoulders on Sunday afternoon. The energy that gripped the arena at the start of the Miami game had dissolved into a medley of people shuffling out, Heat fans bragging, and a few Knicks fans shouting insults, mostly at game officials and the Heat fans.

Perspective is hard to have at a time like this.

“I was horrific,” said Knicks point guard Jalen Brunson, who scored 25 points but missed all seven of his three-point attempts.

On Sunday, the Knicks lost to the Heat 108-101 in Game 1 of the NBA’s Eastern Conference Semifinals. They lost even though Heat star Jimmy Butler didn’t have the kind of scoring explosion that saw him beat the top-seeded Milwaukee Bucks in the first round of the playoffs.

But despite the sombre mood that swept the Garden after the game, it would be unwise to bury the Knicks for their performance. In some ways, anything the Knicks do in the playoffs is a bonus. Perhaps more importantly, they still have time to survive this series.

“I don’t think anybody thought this game was going to be, or the series was going to be, won or lost in the first game,” said Knicks guard Josh Hart. He later added: “I don’t think there’s an opportunity that we let slip. It will be a tough, physical series and every game is different.”

Neither the Heat nor the Knicks were expected to last very long in the playoffs.

The Knicks finished the regular season as the fifth seed in the East, facing a Cleveland Cavaliers team that had traded for the star the Knicks didn’t want – Donovan Mitchell.

The Heat had an even bigger chance when it played as the eighth seed against a Bucks team expected to vie for the championship and led by Giannis Antetokounmpo, who is a finalist for this year’s Most Valuable Player Award.

Instead, the Heat and the Knicks easily dispatched their first-round opponents, each taking just five games to do it. Miami took advantage of Antetokounmpo’s injury and Butler’s momentum. Butler scored 56 points in Miami’s Game 4 win against the Bucks and 42 in the series win two days later.

That meant keeping Butler in check would be critical for the Knicks, a team driven by its defense and depth.

The Knicks had home field advantage and a tactical advantage due to Coach Tom Thibodeau knowing Butler well. He coached Butler with the Chicago Bulls for Butler’s first four seasons in the NBA, and again when Butler played for the Minnesota Timberwolves.

On Sunday, Butler had 25 points, 11 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals. More importantly, the attention he commanded on the field made things easier for his teammates, many of whom had already done well under the pressure of the playoffs before.

The Knicks’ shooting was also particularly damaging to them. Brunson wasn’t alone in struggling from 3. Overall, the Knicks made just 20.6 percent of their 3-pointers, including just 3 of 16 in the first half.

With 5 minutes and 5 seconds remaining, Butler struggled to get off track after twisting his ankle while tangled with Hart. He refused to leave the game. As Butler stumbled, the Heat relied on guard Kyle Lowry and extended their lead from 3 to 11 points.

“That’s certainly inspiring that he wouldn’t get out of the game,” said Heat Coach Erik Spoelstra. “And to be able to finish the game, the rest of the guys have given a lot of confidence that we have to finish this.”

Historically, when the Heat and Knicks played each other in the playoffs, the fights resembled boxing matches more than basketball matches. Their physicality was legendary in the 1990s, when Patrick Ewing of the Knicks and Alonzo Mourning of Miami, who were both at Sunday’s game, attacked each other in the paint.

Sunday’s game scored higher than those of a quarter of a century ago, but was just as physical.

“I wouldn’t just assume that every game will look like this,” said Spoelstra. “We played these guys four times during the regular season. Two of the games were so muddy, the throwback Heat and Knicks you’d expect. And then we had two shootouts.

But he also said he expected the series to be a “cage fight.”

What the Knicks have already done this postseason is cause for optimism for their future.

They weren’t supposed to go on a deep playoff run this year, even with Brunson, who was a finalist for the league’s Most Improved Player Award. The Knicks are widely regarded as one superstar away from championship contenders. If they win this series and reach the conference finals, they will have surpassed most expectations.

They avoided the kind of ridiculous drama that characterized the decade-long desert they wandered through, until they created a stable environment with Thibodeau at the helm.

The Knicks soundly defeated the Cavaliers, justifying their reluctance to cut their roster to trade for Mitchell.

Their depth drove them against Cleveland. Therefore, they often succeeded even when playing with few players.

On Sunday, they played without Julius Randle, who is out with a sprained ankle. Thibodeau refused to use that as an excuse for why they lost the game.

“We have more than enough,” he said after the game.

The Heat also missed a key player – guard Tyler Herro, who broke his hand during the first round and is expected to be out for several weeks.

Butler did not address reporters after the game and Spoelstra said he did not know the status of Butler’s injury. But if it’s serious, it could change the complexion of the series. Still, the Knicks saw what the Heat did in the first round against the Bucks and know how tough they can be.

“They’ll never give up,” said Knicks forward RJ Barrett. “That’s one thing I personally like about this series. It is heavily fought over. It’s going to be tough. You have to go there and take it for a bit.