Heat wins Game 1 but suffers a costly blow due to Jimmy Butler’s injury.
Miami’s series-opening victory over the Knicks was hampered by Butler’s sprained ankle on Sunday.
The smashmouth Eastern Conference series that was always portrayed from a 1990s perspective suddenly looked a lot like one from 2023 with only one fourth-quarter sequence. And it was due to yet another injury to a key player that has the potential to swing the game.
As he drew contact from New York swingman Josh Hart, Miami star Jimmy Butler drove to his right and raised for a jumper with little over five minutes remaining in Sunday’s Heat vs. Knicks game at Madison Square Garden. Butler rolled over and writhed in agony as soon as the action ended after Hart unintentionally kicked his foot into his right foot.
Butler persevered and managed to stay in the game. But as 37-year-old Kyle Lowry managed the attack, the fourth-quarter closer was mainly positioned in the other corner, far from the action.
The Heat’s ability to game-plan against the Knicks, who lacked a standout player, allowed Miami to cling onto Game 1 108–101 even in the absence of any heroics from Butler in the closing minutes of the match. In Game 5 of the Cleveland series, Julius Randle aggravated a sprained left ankle, forcing him to miss the first game of the series. Jalen Brunson, the floor general for New York, took 23 tries to score 25 points, seven assists, and five turnovers, but he was responsible for much of the Knicks’ playmaking. “I was today
That was due to a few different factors, though. In order to prevent Brunson from driving towards the rack, Miami settled in and took comfortable positions inside the paint. He was resisted by taller, longer defenders like Jimmy Butler and Caleb Martin. Additionally, other defenders started packing the post to block driving lanes as the Knicks struggled more and more from beyond the arc (Obi Toppin nailed three triples after halftime, but the rest of the team shot just 1-for-12 from outside the arc in the second half). (The capacity to do so ultimately assisted in slowing down RJ Barrett’s impulsive behavior.)
All told, the Knicks shot just 7-of-34 (20.6%) from deep Sunday. That obviously won’t cut it for New York in this series. Counting both the regular season and playoffs, the Knicks went 1–7 in contests where they made seven triples or fewer. And it’s part of why Tom Thibodeau and the Knicks need Randle: The Heat, who limited their turnovers and kept New York off the offensive glass, are tough defensively. They excel at making the floor smaller. (Mitchell Robinson, the NBA’s top offensive rebounder and someone who slayed the Cavs on the glass in the first round, took a nasty fall at one point Sunday, and looked a bit hobbled.) Erik Spoelstra has his team use zone defense more than any other club, and it confounds opposing offenses at times.
The Heat, winners in five of their first six to start the postseason—they didn’t manage to win five of six at any point in the regular season—were led by Butler until his injury. He had 25 points, 11 boards, four assists and a couple steals. Other key efforts stemmed from Gabe Vincent (20 points), who started the game hot, and Lowry (18 points), who kept the offense going late. It wasn’t close to the blistering 45% from three that Miami shot in Round 1 during the huge upset series victory over Milwaukee. But it still managed to be enough.
Star Bam Adebayo (battling through a hamstring injury) and the Heat role players were already going to be massive in this series, but that becomes even more true now, with Tyler Herro out due to his broken hand, and Butler potentially hobbled, too. Oddly, the Knicks didn’t make a point of attacking Butler late in the fourth period, when he stayed in despite barely being able to walk at first. It’s unclear still whether he’ll be available to go in Game 2.
“You just don’t know with ankle sprains,” Spoelstra told reporters after the game. “I don’t even know if we’ll know more by tomorrow. We’ll just have to see. It’ll be a waiting game.”
Regardless of whether Randle is back for Game 2, New York would be wise to set plenty of perimeter screens to force Miami’s defense to move and utilize swingman Quentin Grimes, who returned after missing the last two games of the Cleveland series. He played just four minutes in the second half, and failed to attempt a shot in that span. But Grimes’s shooting ability could help space things a bit more, giving Miami less opportunity to load up at the rim.
