In this series, their Eastern Conference NBA playoff series against the Nee York Knicks, Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra is showing just how good of a coach he is. Over the last four years, he has consistently shown he can galvanize any group of players into the playoffs, no matter how they entered the league.
His Miami Heat squads embody the principles laid forth by executive Pat Riley, who was previously the coach and brought with him the black and blue half-court defense from his tenure with the Knicks. That bad blood has never been resolved, and you can feel the tension between these two franchises even though Riley left more than 30 years ago.
Game 3 was a slugfest, with the Heat having their worst offensive performance of the playoffs so far, managing only 105 points on 96 possessions (109.4 per 100). Despite this, the Heat won by 19, as the Knicks didn’t get much of a boost from their bench nor a dominant performance from Julius Randle. Both teams shot a combined 21 percent from the 3-point line, the lowest combined 3-point percentage for the series so far. But the Heat outmuscled and outhustled the Knicks in paint points (50-36), a metric the Knicks dominated during the regular season.
Every team in the playoffs is dealing with injuries. The Knicks lost Immanuel Quickley to an ankle sprain in Game 3. Jimmy Butler, Julius Randle, and Jalen Brunson are all nursing sore and injured ankles. So far, the Heat have shown more willingness to fight through the injuries.
Spoelstra is a master tactician, perhaps the best at making in-game adjustments. He has seemed to be one step ahead of Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau, leading to the Miami Heat capturing a 2-1 lead over their long-time rivals.
The entire Miami Heat roster, starting with star Butler, does the dirty work. Doing the little things has become ingrained in this Heat’s roster. It’s why Butler wanted to come in the first place. Now that he’s here, he’s setting the standard by taking on the toughest defensive assignments, like holding Jalen Brunson to 7-20 shooting last game as his primary defender.
The Knicks have the more talented team, but the Miami Heat’s deeply entrenched defensive principles and “next man up” mentality has them out-hustling their playoff novice opponent. To find how one has to look deeper than just the box score.
Miami Heat’s undrafted gems
The Miami Heat employ five undrafted players in their 10-man rotation: Haywood Highsmith, Duncan Robinson, Caleb Martin. They also have two undrafted players in their starting lineup: Max Strus and Gabe Vincent. In a league featuring 450 of the greatest basketball players in the world, it’s easy to misidentify those undrafted ones as mere bums. Haywood and Robinson have been non-factors in this series. But Strus, Martin, and Vincent have been certified Knicks killers. The trio is deeply in-tune with Spoelstra’s game plan and seems to relish the expanded role with Tyler Herro, Victor Oladipo, and at times, Butler out with injuries.
During the regular season, Herro was the team’s third-leading scorer, and his perimeter scoring helped balance the Heat’s starting lineup. Spoelstra inserted Vincent as the full time-starter and incorporated his off-the-dribble three-point shooting next to Butler. This has moved Kyle Lowry to the bench, reducing his workload and saving his scoring threat for specific instances where the Miami Heat needs a boost from 3. Lowry’s veteran leadership has stabilized the anemic bench, helping Cody Zeller and Highsmith get easy buckets. Vincent has been electric in a starting role.
Vincent has boosted his regular season scoring average (9.4) in the playoffs (13.9) while averaging 15 points against the Knicks. Strus has been just as valuable as a floor spacer at the 3, knocking down an average of 38 percent in three games against the Knicks. The Knicks have often tried to hide Jalen Brunson on Struss, but the four inches he gives up on him makes it a difficult cover when guarding the 3.
Martin has been Spoelstra’s answer to Josh Hart, Thibodeau’s beloved role player who does all the dirty work. They mirror each other physically and mentally, with Martin maintaining one of the highest plus/minus ratings on the team throughout the playoffs thus far with a plus-7. His second chances, points, and defense have stifled the Knicks, as Martin has no equal energy-wise off the Knicks bench.
Tom Thibodeau has to teturn to what’s worked
Knicks fans across social media are begging Thibodeau to re-insert Quentin Grimes into the starting lineup. Throughout the regular season and in the first-round beatdown of the Cleveland Cavaliers, Grimes at the two was the glue of the starting lineup. He required no plays to be called for him, and his 38.9 percent from 3 helped to space a poor three-point shooting starting five. Not only has Thibodeau moved him to the bench, his shot attempts have plummeted to a little over four a game. The thinking was noble, moving Hart into the starting lineup, as nobody guarded Butler better one-on-one this season.
Before this series, in the 106 possessions that Hart guarded Butler, he only scored a combined 21 points on 6-22 shooting (27.3 percent). But this is the playoffs, and we know Butler elevates his game better than anyone. Hart has had his moments, but overall, Butler has controlled the pace and gotten what he wants on offense. Grimes was one of the best on-ball defenders in the NBA this season, guarding in the top echelon of assignments. He can handle Butler until Hart comes in on the bench. His athleticism and three-point shooting have been severely missed.
Grimes’ removal from the starting lineup has coincided with the Knicks running cold from 3. In Game 3, the Knicks made only eight of their 40 shots from beyond the arc. This marks the seventh time in their eight playoff games where they’ve shot below 33 percent from 3-point range, with the only exception being Game 2 of this series. This makes sense, as before the second-round series started, they were the worst three-point shooting team in the playoffs. It’s only gotten worse since.
Thibodeau has fallen in love with Hart, a crutch he has exhibited with all three franchises he’s led. It took Knicks executive Leon Rose to trade away Thibodeau’s favorite toy, Alec Brukes, in the off-season to remove him as the starting point guard. It surprised all Knicks fans when he removed Derrick Rose and former starting shooting guard Evan Fournier from the rotation. In the regular season with Hart on the bench, the Knicks’ bench ranked fourth in aggregate point differential per 100 possessions. With RJ Barrett leading the reserves, that lineup is a minus-22 in 19 minutes in the series, scoring just a measly 24 points on 37 offensive possessions (65 per 100).
Thibodeau has over-relied on Hart as a starter, and the Butler neutralizer, severely disrupting the Knicks’ pecking order and rotation. In Game 1, Hart played 43 minutes, 32 minutes in Game 2, and 43 minutes in Game 3 — the move reeks of desperation.
Thibodeau has the better roster. He can still make changes and adjust to tie the series tonight. The first step is returning to what made the Knicks dangerous, to begin with, by reinserting Grimes in the starting lineup.
Lee Escobedo covers the NBA for Sportsnaut. You can follow him on Twitter at @_leeescobedo