NBA Watch Live: Game 3, New York Knicks at Miami Heat, 3:30 EST on ABC

The New York Knicks head to Miami with the series tied 1-1.

• By
  
  Tom Lorenzo
  
• on May 6, 2023 3:30 pm

The Brooklyn Nets are out of the NBA Playoffs, but that doesn’t mean we aren’t watching. So we figured we’d try something out and throw up a game thread for Saturday afternoon’s New York Knicks and Miami Heat Game 3 matchup.

Jimmy Butler is banged up for the Heat but the Knicks weren’t able to capitalize on it in Game 2, hence we head into Game 3 with the series tied.

Let’s get to it.

WHO: New York Knicks (1-1) at Miami Heat (1-1)

WHEN: 3:30 p.m. est

WHERE: ABC (national tv)

From the Knicks side of things:

Enough is enough. The Knicks have edged on the precipice of their offense clicking for two games. Their three-point shooting and team assist have been worse than the regular season low for any team. Game Three is the game Julius Randle wakes the fuck up and unleashes his full offensive arsenal on the bum-ass Miami Heat.

Randle returned from reaggravating his ankle in Game Two to drop 25 points, 12 rebounds, and eight assists. But even that solid return felt underwhelming. Randle will go beast mode against Kevin Love and “Bum” Adebayo, predicated on his typical three-ball and first-quarter barrage. No one on the Heat can stop Randle’s elite combination of brute strength and three-level scoring.

RJ Barrett has evolved into the third scoring option Knicks fans have dreamed he would be. Jalen Brunson is firing on all cylinders. Tom Thibodeau has delivered the best coaching performance of his career. The Knicks are the most talented team. This would be the case even if Tyler Herro and Victor Oladpio, the team’s third and fifth-highest scorers were playing.

Meanwhile, over on the Heat side of things:

With a full three days of rest, the Miami Heat will be back in action Saturday afternoon inside Kaseya Center against the New York Knicks in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.

The Heat, who suffered a 111-105 loss in Game 2 Tuesday, will likely have Jimmy Butler back after he missed Game 2 with a rolled ankle. Miami attempted 49 3-pointers, converting on 17 of them, but the Knicks drained 16 of their 40 triples (after going 7-34 in G1), hauled in six offensive rebounds in the final quarter and got on the backs of Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart en route to their six-point win.

Caleb Martin led all Heat scorers with 22 points on 8-of-15 shooting, including 4-of-8 from 3-point range in addition to eight rebounds. Gabe Vincent had 21 points with five assists on 7-of-17 shooting, while Max Strus and Bam Adebayo posted 17 and 15 points, respectively.

Drop your predictions below.

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