RJ Barrett was not scoring in Sunday’s Super Bowl, but when he made a defensive mistake, it was the last straw for Tom Thibodeau.
Barrett was eliminated in the fourth period, ending with three points when the Heat escaped with a 109-103 win at the Garden on a Sunday matinee.
Julius Randle scored 26 points and added 12 rebounds and seven assists. Reggie Bullock was on fire in the 3-point range, hitting seven 3s for 21 points.
But the Knicks (11-14) showed that they cannot win unless Barrett is an important factor, and he did not appear. Barrett played just 19 minutes and hit 1 of 6 when the Knicks lost their two-game winning streak. Barrett did not score goals in the first half.
Sources said the Knicks agreed to an exchange for Derrick Rose, in part to give them more offensive firepower in the final minutes. The Knicks were frozen in the end. Randle lost a corner 3 with the Knicks defeated 103-99 with 1:33 left.
Still losing 3, Alec Burks – in the game for Barrett – hit a 3-point basket. Miami’s Tyler Herro went down and froze the win with a 3-point basket with 33 seconds remaining, while Miami reversed some recent bad luck to move to 9-14.
Bullock, who started all 20 games he played, scored six points out of 3 in the first half in eight attempts. Bullock received a handful of passes from Randle from the double team.
The Knicks drew the best of the season with 17 3s, but it was not enough, as they scored just 44 points in the second half.
Bullock’s aim allowed the Knicks to be within 60-59 halftime. Miami’s Kendrick Nunn, an unformed guard, led the Heat with 14 points in the first half – making 4 out of 5 points out of 3.
With the Knicks losing Nerlens Noel, Taj Gibson came off the bench for a spark, scoring nine points, hitting all four shots.
The Knicks used the same starting line-up 20 times – the best in the league to continue. The only time Thibodeau wavered was when Bullock was injured. In contrast, Miami had 16 different initial lineups because of injuries and contact tracking from COVID-19.
Before the game, Thibodeau praised his former player, Jimmy Butler, who finished with 17 points. He said the Heat was struggling because of Butler’s varying injuries and other COVID-19 absences. The Heat is now 6-5 with Butler and 3-9 without.