The Knicks beat the Heat on Friday and will root for their rival on Tuesday.
It’s a wacky circumstance of the In-Season Tournament, which we’ll try to explain by first presenting the Group B standings:
Bucks (3-0)
Knicks (2-1)
Heat (2-1)
Hornets (1-2)
Wizards (0-3)
So, the Knicks will win the group and advance to the quarterfinals if … they beat the Hornets on Tuesday, the Heat beat the Bucks and the Knicks finish with a better point differential than the Heat and Bucks.
Or, the Knicks get a wild-card spot into the quarterfinals if … they beat the Hornets and have the best point differential of three teams that finished second in the three Eastern Conference groups.
Currently, the Knicks have the best point differential of any teams in the East not winning their respective group.
So they’re in good shape if they beat the Hornets handily on Tuesday.
“It’s something to win,” Jalen Brunson said. “As a competitor you want to win whatever is in front of you, no matter what it is. It’s just another opportunity really. So put me anywhere, I’ll play wherever.”
Brunson was the hero against the Heat but RJ Barrett had a couple of huge moments.
He nailed an and-1 with two minutes remaining that gave the Knicks the lead for good.
Then he contested Jimmy Butler’s potential game-winning trey at the buzzer, closing out perfectly on the stepback jumper with an outstretched hand.
“I knew he was gonna go to the stepback,” Barrett said. “I thought he was gonna go to the step-back right but he went left. “I love it. Jimmy’s obviously a good player so being able to get that stop and secure the win definitely feels good.”
As an assistant with Team USA over the summer, Erik Spoelstra discovered he had an NBA rival living in his neighborhood: Knicks forward Josh Hart.
“I learned that he lives in Miami,” the Heat coach said. “I did not know that, but we’re kind of in the same neighborhood.”
Hart and Brunson were both members of Team USA, which lost in the FIBA World Cup in Asia.
“I really, unfortunately, came to like not only Josh Hart, but Jalen Brunson,” Spoelstra said. “I really wanted to come out of that experience disliking them even more. I think we’ll be able to get past that. It’s still Heat vs. Knicks. I know how they’re wired. They know how we’re wired.”
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