The Miami Heat continue to sleep walk through their post-title hang over.
Not long after handing the Washington Wizards their second win of the season, the Heat looked just as sluggish (if not more so) against a much less imposing Knicks team. At the end of the night, New York earned a 112-92 victory at Miami’s American Airlines Arena.
The Knicks were without Carmelo Anthony, sidelined by a stitched up finger. As though they hardly noticed, New York continued to roll on the offensive end.
Raymond Felton led the charge with 27 points (6-10 from three) and 7 assists.
There’s really no other way to describe the Knicks tonight other than they got everything they wanted on offense. The team put up 44 three’s (to the Heat’s 16) and nailed 18 (good for 41%).
Outside of those numbers, you could just see the lack of inhibition on the Knicks. At one point, they went multiple possessions in a series of minutes where Felton was allowed to just dribble and dance around before launching a meekly contested three.
It’s not exactly half-court discipline, but it beat the champs…twice.
The Knicks improve to 14-4, are averaging a staggering 102.7 ppg (4th in the league), and are even turning the ball over less (11 TO’s per game, 16 last year).
In tonight’s match up, New York lost the ball just 7 times to their own efforts. The Miami Heat turned the ball over 14 times. To pile one, Dwyane Wade is still having a largely uncharacteristic year. Tonight, he was held to just 13 points on 3-13 shooting. Chris Bosh was just as much a bane, going for 12 on 3-12 from the field. LeBron James ended the night with yet another impressive line at 31 points, 10 rebounds, and 9 assists.
At 12-5, it’s hard to imagine that the Heat are in panic mode. Hell, they’ve played downright pedestrian basketball against downright pedestrian teams, and they’re still 2nd place in the East (behind only the Knicks).
I heard the best description of the Heat’s current situation on Miami’s 790 The Ticket, quoting assistant coach Keith Askins: “We can score against anyone in the NBA. The problem is that right now, anyone in the NBA can score against us.”
Mohamed Abdihakim is a journalism student at Florida Atlantic University. He is a Phoenix Suns fan, who is not prepared for the possibility of Nash winning a title in a Lakers jersey. Mohamed is also a contributor at “Les Snobs”. Interests include International basketball, Mad Men, and blues music. Nearly all stats are credited to Hoopdata or Basketball-Reference.
Twitter handle: @Abdi_hakim
