Nineties nostalgia, brawls, body slams, and coaches hanging on to dear leg aside, the Miami Heat-New York Knicks series is going to be an intense and fun matchup that’s bound to go the distance.
The fact that both teams–at least on paper–had no business making it past the second round is exciting enough. The Heat just Jimmy Butler’d their way (again) into a jaw-dropping upset over the Milwaukee Bucks. The Knicks bullied their way against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Now, two tough teams will grind it out in a second round series that not a lot of people were expecting, but now a lot of people, regardless if you’re a fan of both teams, will definitely tune in to.
Most compelling storyline
The Heat-Knicks rivalry is the kind of basketball chronicle that probably won’t make history textbooks because of how dirty it got. Punches were thrown and suspensions were dished out generously across both teams, across a span of four years.
There was good basketball, of course, capped off by an iconic, one-handed floater by Allan Houston to eliminate the Heat at the buzzer in ‘99. But the rivalry will always be marred—yet fondly remembered—because of the fights.
Those fights have nothing to do with the players donning New York and Miami colors today, but their passionate fanbases surely haven’t forgotten. Plus, if the first round is any indication, the current players have a lot of fight in them.
Butler, Jalen Brunson, Bam Adebayo, Julius Randle, Kyle Lowry, Josh Hart—run up the list of names from both squads and all signs point to another physical and chippy series that can go either way.
Also, the Tom Thibodeau and Erik Spoelstra chess match is worth noting. Thibs coaching against his former player in Butler adds more depth to an already colorful series.
X-factors
The status of Julius Randle’s left ankle is the X-factor in this series. He re-injured the ankle in Game 5 of the Cavs series, but an update from Thibs indicates he’ll be good to go.
The Knicks need Randle at a hundred percent to keep Bam at bay while allowing Brunson to cook on offense.
For the Heat, they’d need Playoff Jimmy to be an actual thing—if the thing meant that he could sustain his first round superhero-ness for another seven-game series where they don’t have homecourt advantage.
Winning blueprint
The Knicks were able to dominate the Cavs bigs in Round 1, an almost unthinkable thing to do if you think about how effective Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley were in the regular season. The undersized Heat will be in trouble immediately if Mitchell Robinson and Randle got their way inside.
The Heat, meanwhile, shot the lights out versus the Bucks and got everyone to chip in when it counted.
Butler’s heroism aside, the Heat will have to match that same firepower and accuracy from outside to keep up with the Knicks’ depth.
The Heat-Knicks’ animosity in the ‘90s are long gone. Here’s to making new memories in this new era rivalry.
