How Heat turned a Knicks strength into a weakness to take 3-1 series lead, more Game 4 takeaways

Five takeaways from the Miami Heat’s 109-101 win over the New York Knicks on Monday night at Kaseya Center in Game 4 of their second-round playoff series. The eighth-seeded Heat leads the fifth-seeded Knicks 3-1 in the best-of-7 series, with a chance to clinch the series and advance to the Eastern Conference finals in Game 5 on Wednesday in New York (7:30 p.m., TNT):

Heat beats Knicks to take 3-1 lead in playoff series

The Heat turned a Knicks strength into a weakness to take full control of the series.

The Knicks ended the regular season with the NBA’s second-highest offensive rebounding percentage (the percentage of available offensive rebounds a team grabs) and entered Monday with the league’s highest offensive rebounding percentage in this year’s playoffs.

The Heat ended the regular season with the NBA’s 18th-highest offensive rebounding percentage and entered Monday with the lowest offensive rebounding percentage in the playoffs of the eight teams still alive.

But it was the Heat that dominated the offensive glass in the clutch to hold on for a win in Game 4.

The Heat entered the fourth quarter ahead by nine points, but shot just 6 of 22 (27.3 percent) from the field and missed all nine of its three-point attempts in the final period.

Despite those late-game shooting struggles, the closest the Knicks got in the fourth quarter was within six points.

The Heat was able to keep the Knicks from making a big push by creating extra opportunities.

The Heat scored seven second-chance points on seven offensive rebounds in the fourth quarter. The Knicks grabbed just one offensive rebound in the final period.

“You’re going to have to make these plays in the trenches,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “Was that the game plan in the fourth quarter to get those four extra possessions? I can’t say it was, but you have to make effort plays, make the plays in between, and we were able to do that tonight.”

Of the Heat’s seven fourth-quarter offensive rebounds, Caleb Martin grabbed three, Jimmy Butler grabbed two and Kyle Lowry grabbed two.

The result: New York outscored Miami just 20-19 in the fourth quarter even with the Heat’s awful shooting.

It helped that the Knicks also struggled to make shots down the stretch, as they finished the fourth quarter 6 of 18 (33.3 percent) from the field and 1 of 8 (12.5 percent) from beyond the arc.

“By the fourth quarter, it was a total grind,” Spoelstra said. “We got the necessary stops. We had a bunch of clean looks in the fourth quarter and couldn’t knock them down. But we got those extra possessions, which certainly helped.”

For the game on Monday, the Heat outrebounded the Knicks 31-27 and 13-8 on the offensive glass.

Heat center Bam Adebayo finished Game 4 with a game-high 13 rebounds. He totaled 25 rebounds in Games 3 and 4 after grabbing 16 rebounds in the first two games of the series.

For perspective on how dominant of an offensive rebounding team New York has been, the Knicks were outrebounded on the offensive glass just five times in their final 22 regular-season games after the mid-February All-Star break. And Monday marked just the second time in nine playoff games that the Knicks have lost the offensive rebounding battle.

Yes, the Heat outscored the Knicks 39-27 from three-point range on Monday. That helped push Miami to the win.

But the rebounding was just as important for the Heat in Game 4.

“Spo has been making a big emphasis of first to the basketball, and I feel like these last couple games, we’ve been doing that,” Adebayo said.

Butler again finished as the Heat’s leading scorer with 27 points on 9-of-17 shooting from the field, 1-of-3 shooting from three-point range and 8-of-9 shooting from the foul line, six rebounds, 10 assists, two steals and two blocks in 42 minutes even with the Knicks consistently sending extra defenders his way.

The Knicks played from behind for nearly the entirety of Games 3 and 4 in Miami. The Heat led Game 3 from start to finish and the Knicks held a lead for just 33 seconds in Game 4.

The Heat improved to 7-2 in this year’s playoffs.

“We’re playing our best basketball at the most important time of the year,” said Heat forward Max Strus, who finished Game 4 with 16 points on 4-of-9 shooting from three-point range. “And it’s not like we’re doing anything special. We’re just doing the right things.”

Adebayo turned in another standout playoff performance.

Playing with a compression shirt because of right shoulder discomfort, Adebayo finished Game 4 with 23 points on 10-of-17 shooting from the field, 13 rebounds, two assists and one steal in 38 minutes. It’s the most points he has scored in a game during this year’s playoffs.

Adebayo was aggressive from the start, scoring nine of the Heat’s first 17 points.

Adebayo entered halftime with 16 points on 7-of-11 shooting from the field and 2-of-3 shooting from the foul line, seven rebounds and two assists in 19 minutes. It’s tied for the most points Adebayo has scored in the first half of a playoff game in his NBA career and it’s also the most points Adebayo has scored in the first half of any game since Feb. 10.

Adebayo scored seven points in the second half, including an important mid-range jumper that extended the Heat’s lead to nine points with 1:55 left in the fourth quarter.

Adebayo did most of his damage from around the basket, finishing Monday’s win 7 of 10 at the rim and 9 of 13 in the paint.

“Finding my ways to impact winning,” Adebayo said of his Game 4 display. “Tonight my teammates were finding me and I made shots.”

Adebayo is averaging 17.8 points, 10.3 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game in this second-round series. He has also anchored a defense that has limited the Knicks to 106.1 points per 100 possessions (equivalent to the NBA’s worst offense in the regular season) on an inefficient 43.6 percent shooting from the field and 28.2 percent shooting from three-point range.

On the Heat’s leading duo of Adebayo and Butler, Spoelstra said: “They’re top of the food chain in terms of two-way competitors. They can put their fingerprints on playoff games, on any given possession defensively or offensively. They’ve played in a lot of playoff games together. They’re doing all the dirty work and the glamorous work, too. That’s what’s required.”

The Heat opened the second quarter with an all-reserve lineup for the second straight game, and its bench continued to deliver.

With the Heat again going with a five-man bench rotation of Lowry, Martin, Duncan Robinson, Haywood Highsmith and Cody Zeller, Miami started the second quarter with these five players on the court for the second straight game.

This lineup outscored the Knicks 15-4 to begin the second quarter in Game 3 on Saturday and again was a positive in Game 4. This five-man combination opened the second quarter on a quick 5-2 run to push the Heat’s lead to four points before Adebayo was subbed in with 9:55 left in the period.

The lineup of Adebayo and four reserves then continued to extend the Heat’s lead, going on their own 7-2 run to build a nine-point advantage in the second quarter.

In the end, the Heat’s bench outscored the Knicks’ reserves 32-10 in Game 4.

“We need them,” Adebayo said of the Heat’s reserves. “At the end of the day, we need everybody. We need everybody contributing, trying to get a win. Tonight everybody contributed and we got a win.”

Lowry finished as Miami’s leading scorer off the bench with 15 points on 4-of-6 shooting from the field, 2-of-4 shooting from three-point range and 5-of-6 shooting from the foul line, five rebounds and four assists.

Martin ended the night with 10 points, five rebounds and two assists.

This is just the continuation of a series-long trend, as the Heat’s bench has mostly won its minutes against the Knicks’ reserves.

The Heat’s reserves have outscored the Knicks’ bench by a total of 54 points through the first four games of the series.

This level of domination is a bit surprising, considering the Heat closed the regular season with the NBA’s sixth-lowest scoring bench.

With the help of the bench’s success, the Heat continues to win the non-Butler minutes.

The Heat outscored the Knicks by four points in the 6:11 that Butler spent on the bench Monday.

In the playoffs, the Heat has now outscored opponents by 37 points in the 130 non-Butler minutes.

This has been an important part of the Heat’s winning formula this postseason that wasn’t there in the regular season.

Opponents outscored the Heat by a total of 73 points or 2.7 points per 100 possessions when Butler wasn’t in the court in the regular season.

If the Heat can continue to produce positive minutes in the time that Butler is on the bench, it’s going to be a tough team to beat.

The Heat is one win away from doing something only one NBA team has pulled off in league history.

Entering this year’s playoffs, NBA teams that have led a best-of-7 series 3-1 have gone on to win the series 95.2 percent of the time (258-13).

In addition, the Heat is 14-0 all-time when leading a best-of-7 series 3-1 and the Knicks are 0-14 all-time when trailing a best-of-7 series 3-1.

That means the Heat is in good position to become just the second No. 8 seed to make it to the conference finals since the current 16-team NBA playoff format was instituted for the 1983-84 season. The Knicks are the only team to pull that off since 1984, when they made it to the East finals before losing in the NBA Finals as the eighth seed in 1999 during a lockout-shortened season.

A No. 8 seed has never won the NBA championship.

“It was great we were able to hold home court, but we know we have a task in New York,” Spoelstra said looking ahead at Game 5.