Takeaways from Heat’s win over Knicks to make history as No. 8 seed, advance to East finals

Five takeaways from the eighth-seeded Miami Heat’s 96-92 series-clinching win over the fifth-seeded New York Knicks on Friday night at Kaseya Center. The Heat won the best-of-7 second-round series 4-2 to advance to the Eastern Conference finals for the 10th time in franchise history and third time in the last four seasons:

The Heat is on a historic playoff run as the East’s No. 8 seed.

The Heat is just the second No. 8 seed to make it to the conference finals since the current 16-team NBA playoff format was instituted in the 1983-84 season.

Meanwhile, the Knicks haven’t advanced to the conference finals since 2000.

“We don’t take any of this for granted,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “It’s hard to win in this league, hard to win in the playoffs, and it’s really freaking hard to get to the Eastern Conference finals.”

The Heat’s next opponent won’t be known for a few days, but it will be either the second-seeded Boston Celtics or third-seeded Philadelphia 76ers. The Bucks-76ers second-round series is currently tied 3-3, with Game 7 set for Sunday in Boston.

The Heat faced both the Celtics and 76ers last postseason, eliminating the 76ers in the second round before losing to the Celtics in the conference.

This regular season, the Heat went 2-2 against the Celtics and 2-1 against the 76ers.

Whether it’s against the Celtics or 76ers, the Heat will open the East finals on Wednesday on the road.

The full schedule for the East finals: Game 1 on Wednesday in Boston or Philadelphia, Game 2 on Friday in Boston or Philadelphia, Game 3 on May 21 in Miami, Game 4 on May 23 in Miami, Game 5 on May 25 in Boston or Philadelphia, Game 6 on May 27 in Miami and Game 7 on May 29 in Boston or Philadelphia. All the games will start at 8:30 p.m. and be on TNT.

The Heat already eliminated the top-seeded Milwaukee Bucks in the first round 4-1, becoming only the sixth No. 8 seed to defeat a No. 1 seed in the first round of the playoffs.

“We’re one step closer to our goal,” Heat star Jimmy Butler said. “We’ve got eight more to get. I am so so proud of all of my guys for playing as hard as we did today.”

The Heat won Game 6 and this second-round series despite bad three-point shooting. That’s encouraging and concerning at the same time.

Following an incredible three-point shooting display in the first round, the Heat needed to overcome bad outside shooting to win its second-round matchup against the Knicks.

The Heat again struggled to hit threes in Game 6, finishing 7 of 27 (25.9 percent) from beyond the arc.

After shooting 45 percent on threes in the first round, the Heat shot just 30.6 percent on threes in the second round.

It’s encouraging that the Heat won Game 6 and the series despite shooting this poorly from three-point range. Miami did it Friday with solid defense (limiting the Knicks to 92 points on 38 percent shooting from the field and 10 of 35 on threes), a relatively clean game with just seven turnovers and by outscoring the Knicks 38-20 in the paint.

It also helped that the Knicks hit a lower percentage of their threes in the second round. New York closed the series shooting 29.9 percent from three-point range.

“This close out game was a nod to our president,” Spoelstra said, referring to Heat president Pat Riley, with both teams finishing with fewer than 100 points on Friday. “That was fully in his image and personality. We’ll take it. There has been nothing easy about this season and that proved to be true in this close out game. That was an absolute grind. This series was everything we expected, incredibly competitive and physical.“

But the Heat’s suddenly cold three-point shooting is concerning because it’s actually been an issue for most of the season. Yes, the Heat pulled off its first-round upset of the Bucks in part because of its scorching shooting from deep, but it was one of the worst three-point shooting teams in the NBA during the regular season.

The Heat closed the regular season with the league’s fourth-worst team three-point percentage at 34.4 percent.

In the second round:

Caleb Martin shot 35.7 percent from three-point range.

Kyle Lowry shot 35.7 percent from three-point range.

Max Strus shot 35.4 percent from three-point range.

Duncan Robinson shot 28.6 percent from three-point range.

Gabe Vincent shot 26.8 percent from three-point range.

Kevin Love shot 24.1 percent from three-point range.

Heat center Bam Adebayo turned up his aggressiveness on the offensive end in Game 6 and it was needed.

Adebayo came out looking for his own shot in Game 6, scoring six points on six field-goal attempts in the opening quarter.

By halftime Adebayo had 17 points on 12 field-goal attempts. It’s tied for the most shots Adebayo has attempted in a single playoff half in his NBA career.

Adebayo did most of his damage in the first half, finishing Friday’s series-clinching victory with 23 points on 9-of-20 shooting from the field and 5-of-5 shooting from the foul line, nine rebounds, one assist, one steal and one block in 39 minutes. Most of his production came from inside the paint, where he totaled 14 of his 23 points.

Adebayo’s 23 points and 20 shots in Game 6 tied his playoff-high for this year, and the 20 shots tied for the third-most he has attempted in a playoff game in his NBA career.

“He grabbed every single rebound, had some huge buckets down the stretch,” Butler said of Adebayo. “He’s always been our anchor on defense all season long. But my goodness when he’s attacking and making shots, he looks unarguable.”

Adebayo entered averaging 17.6 points on 14.5 field-goal attempts per game in this year’s playoffs. He nearly matched those numbers in the first half of Game 6 and then went on to surpass them in the second half.

With the Knicks consistently sending double teams and sometimes triple teams at Butler, the Heat needed its All-Star center to step up and take on a bigger scoring role.

Adebayo did that while also again impressing as the primary defender on Knicks All-Star forward Julius Randle, who finished Game 6 with just 15 points on 3-of-14 shooting from the field.

It wasn’t Butler’s best game of the playoffs, but he delivered in important moments to earn some much-needed time off before the conference finals.

Butler entered averaging 31.9 points per game on 55.1 percent shooting from the field in this year’s playoffs.

Butler couldn’t produce at that level on Friday, finishing the win with 24 points on an inefficient 7-of-22 shooting from the field but did shoot 10 of 11 from the foul line. He also recorded eight rebounds and four assists while playing 41 minutes.

But Butler’s best minutes in Game 6 came down the stretch, battling through his shooting struggles to total 15 of his 24 points on 4-of-12 shooting from the field and 7-of-7 shooting from the foul line, three rebounds and three assists while playing the entire second half for the second straight game.

Butler missed Game 2 of the second round after spraining his right ankle in the series opener. It’s fair to wonder how much the lingering pain from that injury is affecting him.

Butler averaged 24.5 points per game on 41.7 percent shooting from the field in the final four games of the series after returning from that injury. That’s far off from his incredible first-round production of 37.6 points per game on 59.7 percent shooting from the field.

The four days off prior to the start of the East finals on Wednesday should be helpful for Butler.

“It’s clear he wasn’t physically the way he was in the Milwaukee series,” Spoelstra said of Butler. “But he still commands so much respect and attention that we just played out of double teams basically in the second half and he was a facilitator. And we were just grinding through possessions, got some key opportunities off those double teams and then when he needed to get a bucket and some free throws, he was able to do that down the stretch. That’s all mental toughness and will and not being denied down the stretch.”

The Heat managed to survive a tough fourth-quarter whistle and another incredible effort from Knicks star guard Jalen Brunson.

Brunson picked up right where he left off after his 38-point masterpiece in Game 5 to force a Game 6.

Brunson scored 15 of the Knicks’ first 26 points on Friday and finished with a game-high 41 points on 14-of-22 shooting from the field, 5-of-10 shooting from three-point range and 8-of-9 shooting from the foul line in 45 minutes. After also scoring 30-plus points in Games 4 and 5, Brunson is the first Knicks player with three straight 30-point playoff games since Patrick Ewing did it in May 1990.

Brunson was sensational in the second-round series, averaging 31 points per game while shooting 50.4 percent from the field. He scored 30 or more points in four of the six games during the series.

The Knicks’ second-leading scorer in the series was RJ Barrett, who averaged 20.8 points per game.

“How is that dude not an All Star, not All-NBA? He should be on one of those teams,” Spoelstra said of Brunson. “I wish he was still out West. He’s an incredible competitor.”

The Heat also needed to overcome foul trouble in the fourth quarter, as it was called for 10 fouls in the final period after committing 12 fouls in the first three quarters. That led to the Knicks shooting 12 of 15 from the foul line in the fourth quarter to pull within two points with 54.6 seconds to play.

The Knicks then had a chance to tie or take the lead, with possession of the ball and trailing by two, but Brunson committed a turnover while trying to make a pass into the paint with 16.4 seconds left. The Knicks were then forced to intentionally foul with so little time remaining, and Butler and Strus each hit their two free throws to push the Heat’s lead up to six and clinch the win.

Bonus: The Heat’s bench was a huge positive in the second round, combining to outscore the Knicks’ reserves 183-90 in the series. Lowry was excellent in his reserve role in Game 6, finishing with 11 points, four rebounds, nine assists and three steals in 31 minutes.