After a huge win in game one Miami has a lot of reasons to feel confident in themselves (barring Himmy Butler’s ankle tweakage). With stellar performances from Gabe Vincent (Avg. 20/2/4 with a steal on 55% from 3 vs. the Knicks this season), and the resurgence of Kyle Lowry’s career (My vote for biggest dump truck in the league 10 years in a row).
The keys to success for this Miami team really falls into 3 categories if they want to keep this Cinderella run going:
1.) Big games from not big players.
With the Heat Relying on vets way beyond their prime like Love and Lowry, they have to hope for big games from unproven young guys. Names like Hayward Highsmith and Caleb Martin certainly aren’t putting asses in seats, but will need output from guys who might not have made a couple G-League rosters.
2.) Locking up the paint.
The Knicks scoring 40 points in the paint in the first half had Eric Spoelstra stressed, luckily he’s a HOF coach who knew how to lock down the paint from slashers like Obi Toppin and Jalen Brunson. Although they figured it out in the second half of game 1, we’ll have to see if they can lock the paint down from the tip the rest of the series.
3.) Eating their Wheaties
Miami has to have every man on the roster ready to play. With Butler hurting his ankle and the Knicks being the physical team they are, the Heat have to have guys like the young Nikola Jovic ready to come in when its the 4th quarter with 11 minutes left and people are banged up or in foul trouble.
The Knicks Losing Game 1 was exactly what Miami needed. The Knicks are 0-7 in series all-time when losing game 1 at home. Luckily this Knicks team is out of the ordinary, but not always in a good way.
The Knicks really have 3 key pieces if they want to close out this Zombie Miami team:
1.) Shoot better from 3
The Knicks shot 35% from 3 in the regular season, good enough for #19 in the standings this season. Nothing spectacular but enough to get the job done and have willing shooters like Grimes and Randle from deep. In the Playoffs the Knicks are shooting 25% from deep, Dead Last of any team this post season. Finding open threes off of the 2 guard pick and rolls they’ve been running is essential if they are gonna dominate the rest of the series.
2.) Mitchell Lobinson
Mitchell Robinson absolutely dominated round 1 and made Jarett Allen his son. In game 1 he had 7 points, 14 rebounds, and 2 blocks. Not a bad game by any means but he has to take advantage of mismatches when Bam is guarding Randle or Obi on the perimeter.
3.) Paint Domination
The Knicks set up shop under the basket in the first half of game 1, New York thrives when teams adjust to keep the paint clogged by putting guys like Grimes, RJ, and Randle in the corners to bang out 3s during slow rotations. The problem with this is that the Knicks have to score in the paint early and often and keep the pressure on. This, I think, is gonna fall on Hartenstein to dominate the paint when star bigs Mitchell Robinson and Julius Randle are out.
In conclusion I think the Knicks 3 point shoot mathematically has to bounce back eventually, if that happens tonight in game 2 I think this series is a wrap.
My prediction:
KNICKS IN 6
Hooplaw Sports 
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