GAME PREVIEW: Heat look to continue hot streak against Knicks

The Miami Heat will compete in their third In-Season Tournament group stage game Friday evening against the New York Knicks, the fourth of their five-game road-trip and their second-and-final road game of the group stage.

Miami is winners of nine of their last 10 games, including a dominant 129-96 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers Wednesday inside Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse without Bam Adebayo and Kevin Love.

After losing their first three road contests against the Boston Celtics, Minnesota Timberwolves and Milwaukee Bucks, the Heat are winners of six of their last seven away from home with a plus-10.3 NET Rating in road games over that stretch.

Since the start of November, the Heat sport the 10th-best offense paired with the 5th-best defense–equating to the NBA’s fifth-best NET Rating at plus-7.6. Though the Knicks also have a top-10 offensive and defensive rating over that stretch (9th offense, 7th defense).

The Knicks have won six of their last eight with losses to the Celtics and Minnesota Timberwolves by a combined 33 points. New York is 1-1 in Group B play for the IST, but would surpass the Heat, who are tied for the Group lead with Milwaukee, with a win.

Friday’s game marks the first meeting between the two teams since Miami beat the Knicks in six games in the Eastern Conference Semifinals last postseason after the Knicks took three-of-four in the regular season.

Despite going 0-2 inside Madison Square Garden last season, the Heat are 5-3 inside MSG over their last eight regular season meetings. Will Miami suffer its third straight regular season defeat inside New York City, or will it continue its scorching hot streak? Time will tell.

Injury Report:

Miami Heat:

• Bam Adebayo (hip) — QUESTIONABLE
• R.J. Hampton (two-way) — OUT
• Tyler Herro (ankle) — OUT
• Nikola Jovic (G-League) — OUT
• Duncan Robinson (thumb) — QUESTIONABLE
• Orlando Robinson (G-League assignment) — OUT
• Cole Swider (two-way) — OUT

New York Knicks

• Charlie Brown Jr. (Two-way) — OUT
• Evan Fournier (ankle) — QUESTIONABLE
• Jacob Toppin (Two-way) — OUT
• Duane Washington Jr. (Two-way) — OUT
• Dylan Windler (G-League assignment) — OUT

Projected Starting 5:

Miami Heat:

• Kyle Lowry, G
• Duncan Robinson, G/F
• Jimmy Butler, F
• Haywood Highsmith, F
• Bam Adebayo, C

New York Knicks:

• Jalen Brunson
• Quentin Grimes
• RJ Barrett
• Julius Randle
• Mitchell Robinson

Betting Lines (at the time of this publishing):

• Knicks -5.5 (-110)
• O/U: 212 (O: -110; U: -110)
• ML: Knicks -215, Heat +180

Lines courtesy of FanDuel Sportsbook.

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