Heat botch 19-point lead, fall 116-112 in overtime to Knicks

Ira Winderman, South Florida Sun Sentinel on Mar 2, 2025

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MIAMI – By halftime, it was clear this was going to end one of two ways: stunning or sobering.

In some ways, it was both.

Once again, a significant Heat lead turned into something slight.

And then into nothing at all.

So instead of a stunning win over the New York Knicks, just the sobering reality of another blown lead by the Miami Heat, this time in a 116-112 overtime loss Sunday night at Kaseya Center.

This time the lead was 19 in the third quarter and 12 in the fourth, and, once again, it didn’t matter.

Because Erik Spoelstra’s team can’t close.

The upshot? The Heat’s first three-game winning streak since Jan. 7-11 will have to wait.

The loss dropped the Heat 2-1 on the four-game homestand that ends Monday night against the league-worst Washington Wizards.

The Heat got 30 points and seven rebounds from Bam Adebayo, 22 points and seven assists from Tyler Herro and 12 points, eight rebounds and a career-high six blocked shots from Kel’el Ware.

And it didn’t matter.

Not with Jalen Brunson closing with 31 for the Knicks, just the latest elite team to put the Heat in their place.

Five Degrees of Heat from Sunday night’s game:

— Regulation time: The Heat led 27-22 at the end of the opening period and 62-45 at halftime.

From there, what had been a 19-point Heat lead with 7:10 to play in the third period was trimmed to three late in the period, before the Heat went into the fourth up 87-81.

The Heat then started the fourth quarter with Herro on the bench, but still managed to push their lead to 12 as he sat. He returned with 6:02 to play in regulation and the Heat up 100-90.

The lead continued to dwindle from there, with the Knicks eventually going up 101-100 with 2:58 to play in regulation, with it eventually left tied 105-105 with 26.8 seconds to play.

Off a timeout, the Heat got a wayward jumper from Herro, giving the Knicks possession in the tie with 3.5 seconds to play. The fourth quarter ended with Knicks forward Mikal Bridges off with a corner 3-pointer.

— Overtime: The Heat got a pair of jumpers from Adebayo early in the extra period to go ahead, only to see a Brunson 3-pointer put the Knicks ahead 110-109 with 2:27 to play and New York then move ahead 113-109 with 75 seconds to play on a driving layup by Josh Hart.

A pair of misses by Davion Mitchell, a turnover by Adebayo and a missed 3-point attempt by Herro and it seemed over until Alec Burks came off the bench with a 3-pointer with 27.3 seconds to play that drew the Heat within 114-112.

But the Knicks then broke the Heat press for a basket to seal it.

— Big start: Ware played particularly big early with four dunks and three blocked shots in the first period.

The three blocked shots in the quarter tied Ware’s previous high for a game this season. Then, on a reversed goaltending call, Ware made it a career-high fourth blocked shot midway through the second period, ending the first half with five.

The Heat entered last in the NBA in blocked shots.

Three of those four first-period Ware baskets came on alley-oop dunks with the fourth a putback dunk that basically posterized teammate Haywood Highsmith, who also was going for the offensive rebound.

— Adebayo, too: Ware wasn’t alone with his power play, with the Heat with 40 points in the paint in the first half.

Adebayo was up to 14 points at the intermission, as smooth, confident and reliable with his midrange jumpers as he has been all season.

Adebayo closed 12 of 16 from the field and 6 of 8 from the line.

— Set-up man: With the Knicks loading up against him defensively, Herro found himself playing in attack mode for himself and his teammates as a set-up man early.

With his 19th point, Herro established a single-season scoring high. His previous high was 1,367 points in 2021-22.

In addition, with his first 3-pointer, Herro surpassed his previous single-season high of 203 in 2022-23.

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