NBA Playoffs Picks 5/8 – New York Knicks @ Miami Heat Game 4

NBA Playoffs Picks 5/8 – New York Knicks @ Miami Heat Game 4

The New York Knicks face the Miami Heat in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals tonight on TNT. Miami leads 2-1 after pounding New York 105-86 in Game 3 on Saturday afternoon. Jimmy Butler led all scorers with 28 points as Miami never trailed in the game. Game 3 also provided a skirmish in the closing seconds of the third quarter that was reminiscent of the late 1990’s Heat-Knicks playoff wars. The dustup led to three players (Cody Zeller, Isaiah Hartenstein, Caleb Martin) getting technical fouls. Miami is a 4.5 point favorite and the total is 206.5.

SERIES RECAP

The New York Knicks opened this series with a 12-point lead on the Miami Heat midway through the second quarter of Game 1, the raucous, celebrity-filled crowd at Madison Square Garden was in a frenzy! From that point on, they’ve had a hard time competing with Miami. The Knicks went on to lose Game 1 by seven, they needed a fourth quarter rally to beat a Jimmy Butler-less Miami team by six in Game 2 and got dominated in Game 3. The 86 points scored in Game 3 were the second- fewest of the season for the Knicks. 

After an electrifying series against Cleveland in the first round, Knicks guard Jalen Brunson has had some difficulties with Miami in round two. Brunson is still averaging 20.7 ppg against Miami but he’s shooting a woeful 6-22 (27.3%) from three and missed all of his three-point attempts in Games 1 and 3. Not surprisingly, Brunson’s best shooting performance of the series occurred in the one game that Jimmy Butler didn’t play.

All-Star forward Julius Randle has really struggled in the postseason as he’s seen a nearly 10-point decrease in his scoring average. Randle went from averaging a career-high 25.1 ppg in 77 regular season games to 15.3 in 7 postseason games.

Randle missed the final week and a half of the regular season after suffering a sprained left ankle in a win at Miami on March 29. Randle re-aggravated the ankle injury early in the Cleveland series which limited his availability against Cleveland and caused him to miss Game 1 against Miami.

Jimmy Butler continues to amaze in the postseason, he scored 10 of his game-high 28 points in the first quarter as Miami went up by double digits and never looked back. Butler is averaging 34.4 points, 6.4 rebounds, 4.4 assists and 1.6 steals in the postseason, Miami is 6-1 when Butler plays. All-Star center Bam Adebayo has seen his scoring go down a bit with Butler’s offensive explosion in the playoffs, but he’s still providing great rebounding and defense. 

In addition to Butler’s heroics, Miami has received tremendous boosts from an unsung group of former all-stars (Kevin Love, Kyle Lowry), undrafted players (Max Strus, Gabe Vincent, Caleb Martin) and former 2013 lottery pick Cody Zeller, who was out of the NBA until Miami signed him in February.

You can count on at least two of these players to make a significant contribution with scoring, three-point shooting, rebounding, defense and toughness every time out. Game 3 saw Max Strus score 19 points on 7-14 shooting from the field, Lowry had 14 points and 4 assists off the bench and Zeller added 6 points and 6 rebounds in 12 minutes off the bench. Vincent went from averaging 9.4 ppg in the regular season to 13.4 in the postseason. 

THE PICK

Jimmy Butler is playing which means New York has no chance..Lay the 4.5 again with Miami!