Miami, taking advantage of the return of Jimmy Butler, author of 28 points, easily beat New York (105-86) at home, to lead two wins to one in their Eastern Conference semi-final on Saturday in the NBA play-off.
The Heat, applying themselves to defend well on Jalen Brunson who had passed him 30 points in the N.2 game and was limited to 20 this time (7/20 on shots), without the Knicks finding an alternative solution in attack, made life easier to the point of having led from the first to the last second.
Without having to put on his Superman cape, Butler nevertheless largely contributed to this success, his successful start (10 pts in the first quarter) sending the message that he was well and truly recovered from the sprained right ankle. which he had suffered at the end of the first meeting and which had forced him to forfeit for the next one.
He got a little fright, however, at the end of the third quarter, when his foot slipped slightly outwards on a slippery support. He limped for a few moments, before putting a difficult basket halfway, which had the gift of reassuring everyone on the Florida side.
At that time, Miami maintained its comfortable lead (87-67), Max Strus going there with his usual contribution (19 pts) and Bam Adebayo knocking down a work of undermining in the racket (17 pts, 12 rebounds).
This did not prevent nervousness from rising a notch in his ranks, when Cody Zeller pushed a little too violently to the ground Julius Randle (10 pts, 13 rebounds), who was struggling to rebound with him. Whereupon, the Heat’s replacement pivot suffered a technical foul, as did the opposite Isaiah Hartenstein, who in turn pushed Zeller, under the impassive eyes of Alonzo Mourning, former Heat star, who delivered by the past of much more muscular games against the Knicks.
New York, which lost during the match Imanuel Quickley, obviously seriously hit in the leg after a shock, did try a last stand in the money-time, getting closer to 13 lengths (93-84), but Butler returned to the court to extinguish all hope.
Tom Thibodeau will have to find solutions on the offensive level to hope for another fate in the N.4 match scheduled for Monday with the 2020 finalist.