2024-11-01 06:15:02
The New York Knicks are better than the Miami Heat.
You may have thought that recently. Knick die-hards will insist New York could’ve/should’ve/would’ve won the 2023 playoff matchup between the two, if not for injuries/refs/Pat Riley’s ritual blood magic. And last year the Knicks finished second in the East while Miami dropped all the way to 8th, a play-in desperado – albeit one whose 46 wins weren’t out of sight from New York’s 50. I haven’t thought that thought in many, many moons.
You have to go back 25 years to the last time the Knicks weren’t just ahead of the Heat, but demonstrably superior, to the extent that newborn children come into the world knowing it. Last night’s 116-107 Knick win in Miami would have stood out even in recent years, as the Heat have been one of their bugaboos in the Thibodeau era. It would have stood out as Karl-Anthony Towns’ signature game as a Knick (four games in). It would have stood out for the visitors’ second-half dominance. And for all those reasons, it did. (It would not have stood out for another Josh Hart stir-fry special, where he threw in a lot of everything, if only because that’s sorta Hart’s thing. That doesn’t mean it should be overlooked. What a player.)
Non-Dominican Knicks shot 30% in the first half. But with Towns scoring 24 of their 52 points at the break, the deficit was only six. And KAT wasn’t settling for threes, if that’s even a thing you can accuse a career 40%-shooter from deep of doing. For the first time since Patrick Ewing, the Knicks had the biggest and baddest dude on the floor in South Beach.
