Knicks UNLEASHED

Knicks Offenses goes 'CLANK' in 115-107 Loss to the Miami Heat - The Recap

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A cold night from deep can tell you more about a team than a hot streak. We walked through New York’s 151–107 loss in Miami and found a blueprint for smarter basketball: when the jumper dies, the paint must live. Miami’s continuity, pace control, and shot discipline didn’t just rack up points; they exposed where the Knicks need to evolve—earlier reads, stronger possession value, and better guard play when Jalen Brunson sits.

We get specific about shot selection and explain why a 39-miss night from three isn’t just bad luck. There’s a pivot that wins: drives, cuts, and short-roll touches that force help and create cleaner rhythm threes later. We unpack individual nights across the roster. Brunson carried the offense until a fourth-quarter stint on the bench let the Heat sprint to an 11-0 run. Karl-Anthony Towns hauled rebounds but lacked his recent putback pop. Mikal Bridges scored efficiently yet didn’t tilt possessions. OG Anunoby’s volume from deep begged for more downhill pressure. Gershon Yabusele’s offensive boards hinted at a fix hiding in plain sight: more extra shots when the jumper won’t cooperate.

Then we zoom out to the rotation. The bench totaled 21 points, with Jordan Clarkson still searching for his role and Landry Shamet struggling to impact spacing without movement. Ariel Hukporti looks like high-energy depth rather than a starter. We make the case for starting Josh Hart to boost rebounding, connective passing, and tempo from the opening tip. Most urgent of all, we circle the need for a steady backup point guard—a calm operator to manage 10–15 minutes, protect leads, and keep the offense organized while Brunson resets.

No doom, no melodrama—just a clear checklist for a better road version of the Knicks: smarter reads, more paint touches, sharper rotations, and a second ball handler who brings order to the noise. If that vision clicks, these “slow burn” losses become rare. Enjoy the breakdown, share your lineup tweaks, and tell us your pick for the backup guard New York should target. If you’re into thoughtful Knicks talk, follow the show, leave a five-star review, and pass this episode to a friend who lives on Basketball Reference.

#knicks #nba #miamiheat

SPEAKER_00:

Put the name well, Rocket and Temple must have been the building because the Knicks got Miami Vikes with that one fifty one oh seven loss in the Sunshine States. Oh, you know, it it was again, it was it was an interesting game to watch. It was a fun game to watch still, while the Knicks defense at times was god-awful. Their offense, their bench, their three-point shooting. Well, you could say it was putrid outside of the likes of Jalen Brunson. I mean, you you are gonna run into these games. You are gonna run in. That's that's that's what that's what happens. That's you know, but the Knicks are learning to play within themselves. You know, we all we always use that old analogy. That's what she said, but they did miss 39 three-pointers on Sunday. At some point in time, you have and when you're misfiring that much, you have to kind of reel it in. Some were wide open, others, well, others were just god-awful bad choices in reference to taking that shot. And it's it's gonna be a learning process, it's gonna be a learning curve. I've said this before. I'm not going to get I jokingly said that the Knicks were gonna go 82 and oh. We all knew that wasn't gonna happen. This was a good test for the Knicks, and and honestly, it's an early season test. It is what it is. This this game wasn't a complete blowout. The Knicks were up by three in the first. They they went down by three going in the second. They were uh they were down by seven in the fourth, and you know, they finished out, excuse me, they finished out the 426-27. It was just the fact that their offense, which showed such fluidity in New York, kind of just ran into a brick wall. And I said this before Miami, Miami's a Miami is an interesting team. Miami's gonna put up a bunch of points, but they're a well-coached team, they're a well-disciplined team, and they're a team that has been together some of these guys for a short period of time, and some of these guys have been together for a little while. So if they they have that continuity and they have that flow. Carl Anthony Towns says, we just didn't make them, especially myself. Carl, of course, was uh he was two for eight from the three-point line. At some point in time, like I said, when you're missing that bad and the game is getting not out of hand, but the game is moving in the wrong direction. You you kind of have to change not completely your offensive philosophy. You keep the flow, you keep the transition, but you have to start thinking to yourself, okay, maybe we need to start making some baskets closer to the basket. Maybe we need to get two, three feet within the basket. I don't know, try something different, try something new. And like I said, the offense itself was bad, but the defense wasn't great. And it was one of those games that when Brunson went to the bench in the fourth, who was basically the entire Knicks offense, the Heat won up on an 11-0 run. The Knicks went four and a half minutes without scoring with Brunson on the bench. By the time Brunson returned, and I mean, with nine minutes left, you know, he had cooled down. And that's, you know, that that's to be expected. Because he can't, he's not, Brunson's not gonna be in fire every day and every night long. But like I said, this this is this is a learning curve for Mike Brown. This is a learning curve for the Knicks. This this is something that we're gonna have to kind of figure out as the season goes along. And they're going to. They're gonna have to figure out when your three-pointers are not dropping, and you're only shooting 27.8% from the three-point line, you you switch it up. But then again, if you take a look, the Knicks were also only shooting 38.8% in regular field goal percentage. I mean, it's terrible. At one point in time, they were one for 18 on three-pointers. So sometimes you just have to kind of, you know, you just have to kind of take a look at what you're doing, take a look at what's going on. It's called reading the game. It's called, you know, it's it's it's it's it's called reading what's going on in front of you. Mike Brown is professional. Mike Brown's been around in a while. These games are gonna happen. So I'm not gonna sit here and I'm not gonna get crazy about it. But you did have some poor performances. OG Ananobi was four for 13. He was four for 12 from the three-point line. Only had six rebounds. I'll give Carl Anthony Towns credit. He did put up 15 points, but he did grab 17 rebounds, excuse me, 18 rebounds. The only problem is, unlike the last two games, only one was an offensive rebound. And I think that's again, was a that was a telling sign for the Knicks. They only had 16 offensive rebounds in the entire game. It was Gershon, the dancing bear, who led the team with five on the offensive rebound line. Uh I I I I'm not questioning yet why we're not why we're not starting Josh Hart. Why Josh Hart's sitting on the second team. I'm I'm not I'm not questioning that yet. Ariel Hakaporti, uh, I I I I like Ariel, but I think he is a bench guy. Yeah, he only played 10 minutes and yeah, he started, but I still think he's a bench guy. I think he's a guy that that needs to come in and bring energy and his size off the bench. I I still think your best lineup is OG Ananobi, Carl Indeed Towns, Josh Hart, Bridges, and Brunson. Bridges again had a quiet game. He was seven, he was seven for 11 for 20 points. He was three for five from three, but again, he only had uh four rebounds. Excuse me, five rebounds to go around with to go with four assists. The bench itself again, uh the bench is the bench right now. We we just need to kind of figure it out a little bit. They had the bench only had 21 points. Jordan Clarkson, two for 11 from the field goal. I mean for his field goal percentage. He was 0 for 4 from the three-point line, only eight points and 15 minutes. He's a guy that I still I still think Jordan Clarkson's finding his way on this team and finding his role. I'm not gonna say this is his third bad game, but this is another this is another game where he just didn't seem in preseason. He looked to be part of the offense, but these last three games, he still seems to be trying to find his way. And it's just that, you know, Landry Shamit in 16 minutes was 0 for 4, 0 for 4 from 3. Took all three pointers, zero points, negative nine, and only had uh one rebound and one assist. And Tyler, Tyler to me, like I said, I I keep saying this over and over again Ben Simmons, where you are, um, or anyone uh that can that can be that second point guard. I had this feeling when Malcolm Brogd went out, and we talked about it, that the Knicks' biggest issue was gonna be who was gonna back up Brunson and who's gonna come in. Now, Brunson, right now, like I said, Brunson is is is not sharing the point guard duties with Bridges. It's just Bridges is bringing up the ball a little bit more to allow, you know, to allow Brunson to you know go get a little bit more into the motion office, not not uh, you know, not rely so much on the ISO, have the ability to cut more to the basket, which is which he's just fantastic at. But I've always said this, I'm gonna keep saying this over and over again. We need a presence in that backcourt, a a calming professional point guard that could come in for 10, 15 minutes a night, and and right now I the Knicks just don't the Knicks just don't have that. We're not seeing that. And some nights it's gonna be you know more prevalent, some nights it's not. You know, we're but the the problem is this we we need to figure something out, we need to figure out something quickly. And I'm not sure if there's an answer out in the free agent market, but they they should try something. Um I I don't know. I was hoping they would have gone after Spencer, Spencer Dimwitting, but Spencer Dinwiddie went to Europe. I don't understand that. Well, listen, you know, it's each their own. I think if he would have came in potentially for a veteran minimum for the Knicks, that would have been a good idea for him, the good idea to continue his career. I think it would have offered the Knicks a viable option on the bench, but he he went over, he went over to Munich in the Euro League. And I'm not talking soccer, also known as European football, not talking about that. But like I said, I'm not gonna get crazy about this game. I I'm you know, the Heat played well. They they shot lights out at times, the Heat did. So we're not they shot 45.8% from the floor. I'm not gonna get crazy about it because of the fact that, like I said, you're gonna run into these games because they're still learning. It was a very short, it's not a very long preseason, so they're still learning to play. They would they won those two games at home, which were fantastic. It's gonna be these road games that we're gonna need to try to figure out. They're gonna have these nights, and we just hope that these nights are few and far in between. But I will give them credit for this. This wasn't like a Tom Thibodeau blowout. Tom Thibodeau would have these blowouts where you just knew the game was lost unless there was this monster comeback in the fourth quarter. This was like a slow burn. This is like a slow blowout. Not even a blowout. It wasn't even a blowout. The Knicks are fine. The Knicks are fine, guys. That's what we're gonna say, and that's all you need to know. And don't worry about it because tomorrow's another day. And again, this is Tim. Make sure you like, make sure you subscribe, make sure you go on any place the podcasts are found, find Nick's Unleash, and give a five-star review. And as always, let's go, Nick's.