NBA Playoffs Picks 5/12 – New York Knicks @ Miami Heat
The New York Knicks are on the road facing the Miami Heat in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference semifinals tonight on ESPN. Miami leads 3-2 and can advance to the Eastern Conference finals for a second straight year with a win and become just the second No. 8 seed in NBA history (1999 New York Knicks) to advance to the conference finals. New York staved off elimination with a 112-103 win at home on Wednesday night led by Jalen Bunson’s game-high 38 points, he added 9 rebounds and 7 assists, and played all 48 minutes. Miami is a 6-point favorite, and the total is 208.
THE SKINNY ON BOTH TEAMS
The New York Knicks finished three games ahead of the Miami Heat in the standings and won three of the four regular season matchups but are on the verge of being eliminated by Miami. New York had a surprisingly easy time eliminating the 4 seed Cleveland Cavaliers in the first-round thanks in large part to the dominance of Jalen Brunson. Brunson has elevated his production in the postseason by raising his points per game average from 24.0 to 26.5. Brunson now has back-to-back games of 30+ points against Miami and is averaging 29 points per game in this series.
Unfortunately for the New York, All-Star forward Julius Randle has not elevated his game in the playoffs. Randle went from averaging 25.1 ppg, 10.0 rebs and 4.1 asts in the regular season to 16.8 ppg, 8.0 rebs and 3.7 asts across 9 playoff games. Randle also struggled in his only other playoff appearance with New York against Atlanta two years ago. Randle averaged 18ppg on 29.8 shooting from the field as the Knicks lost to Atlanta 4-1 in the first round.
After dominating this entire postseason, ‘Playoff Jimmy’ Butler sort of cooled off in Game 5 on Wednesday, scoring a playoff-low 19 points, he also added 9 assists and 7 rebounds. It was the first time Butler had been held below 25 points in the postseason. Butler is still averaging an astounding 31.9 points, 6.4 rebounds, 5.5 assists and 1.9 steals across 9 games in the postseason.
In addition to Butler’s playoff heroics, Miami has five other players averaging double digits in the postseason, all-star center Bam Adebayo (17.6 ppg, 9.2 rebs), Gabe Vincent (12.0 ppg), Caleb Martin (11.1), Max Strus (10.6), and Kyle Lowry (10.0). Former five-time all-star Kevin Love has started 8 postseason games for Miami and has averaged 8.2 points and 6.7 rebounds. It’s a testament to how deep and well-constructed the roster is when you consider double-digit scorers Tyler Herro (20.1 ppg in the regular season) and Victor Oladipo suffered season-ending injuries early in the Milwaukee series.
THE PICK
No chance ‘Playoff Jimmy’ loses this game, the Knicks season will end tonight, Lay the 6 and take Miami!!
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