Miami Heat Hosting The New York Knicks, What’s At Stake? Can Miami Peak At The Right Time?

Miami Heat Hosting The New York Knicks, What’s At Stake? Can Miami Peak At The Right Time?

So after a onewe Hiatus welcome back to the five guys I’m Ethan skolnick you can follow me Ethan J scolnick and at five reason Sports and we got Alex Dono you can follow him conveniently enough at Alex Don we’re going to talk heat today before we do though we want to introduce

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We’re going to talk about today I’m heading down to the arena shortly the heat host the Knicks tonight big week uh they get the Knicks tonight they get the Sixers on Thursday likely with embiid playing and then on Friday they go to Houston a team that is trying to get

Into the playin the the heat are trying to get out of the plan in the Eastern Conference but Alex um we wanted to talk to heat today because again it is setting up a big week um and there is this debate okay and I see it on our

Playback on five on the floor and everywhere we interact with uh with Heat fans on our Discord as well which is do you prioritize rest and health or do you prioritize seed and I was curious for your thoughts on this because uh this is going to come up over the last

Eight games as they try to catch Indiana maybe Orlando uh to get out of the playing situation where do you stand on this no I I prioritize seed and I’ve heard the argument I understand what the argument is I just wholeheartedly disagree with it so the argument is hey

Like you know rest your players you you you can’t really fall out of the playin at this point so you try to get your bodies healthy but to me Ethan when you’re talking about a onegame sample in the playin it’s still way too random and anything can happen I mean you you

Mentioned how close the heat were to getting eliminated by Chicago in that second playin game last year like they were four minutes away from getting bounced and you know not even making to the first round of what turned into a finals run so the other thing about this

Is yes I I do prioritize seating because you I’d much rather open up the playoffs you know against Cleveland than to have to open up against Boston or Milwaukee like I don’t think it’s too hard to to distinguish the difference there that could set you up for for a deeper run uh

And you know people just assume that hey you know if you if you prioritize some rest for this final stretch of the Season then that means everyone’s going to be automatically healthy and it’s okay or if you don’t prioritize rest then guys are going to get more banged

Up you’re making a lot of assumptions there like like you you’re turning something into just such a a black or white argument when I I think that a lot of This falls into the Shades of Gray so the idea of trying to be the six seed and getting a more favorable opening

Round and not having to worry about the randomness of the play and I’m all in on that what about you well see this is the thing I I think that people have made this a uh a two option argument when it’s really not uh in this in this sense you can prioritize

Health and rest by getting out of the plan because you get a week off yeah so so so so to me it’s you know do you really want to be playing two days after the season ends hosting a home game we saw you know host hosting a playing game we saw what

Happened last year they ended up getting bounced into the e seed and had to survive against Chicago they were down with three minutes left so you don’t want to be in that situation again and and when we talk about people like you know again Kevin Love who’s likely to

Return this week um now but we’ve been saying that for three weeks but it does seem that’s actually going to happen uh but also Jimmy Butler and some of the guys who’ve just been nursing injuries all year like Caleb Martin uh and some of the others uh getting that week’s

Rest is important it also allows you to kind of zero in on an opponent um and you know in the case of the playin you know you get seven you get bounced to eight then all of a sudden it’s a different opponent than you would have

Had at seven uh and that’s even if you make the playoffs at all and and again do you really want to be in a situation where not only do you risk not making the playoffs but then if you get bounced to eight and you win that game you’re

Opening with the Celtics now I I don’t think they fear the Celtics but you would like to delay that as long as possible because it just seems like the other matchups in the Eastern Conference whether it be Cleveland uh you know in particular I think but even Milwaukee

New York or I don’t think there’s a fear of those teams from the heat there’s not a fear of Boston but clearly they’re a better constructed team than some of the others I mean I I’d love to face the Knicks again in the I know the heat are

Going to be facing the Knicks tonight I’d love to face them again in the playoffs that that’s been something in recent years the Heat have had success in and then listen that’s a rivalry to me like I’m jealous you’re headed down to the arena a little bit because even

Though obviously this these aren’t your 1997 Miami Heat they’re not your 1999 New York Knicks but I still to me Ethan I don’t know if I ever would have become the Rabid Miami Heat fan I became as you know pre-teen and teenager when those playoffs series were happening like it

Just it got me so into basketball like there was nothing like it in the late 90s especially the series The Heat actually won against the Knicks I know they dropped most of those there was nothing like that as as a as a South Florida hockey fan there was nothing

Like the 1996 Florida Panthers it’s like the memories that you can make when you get some of these great playoff series and playoff rivalries there is nothing like it well I the thing about that that rivalry is that we’ll never see anything like it again and the the reason I say

That is you had four straight Series so four straight postseasons that they played each other and each time it went to the deciding game once to five games when it was a five game series the other times to seven games of course the heat lost three of those series they won one

Uh when there were a bunch of players suspended and all the rest of them but it was also the backstory of all of it to have you know Riley going against his old team but also uh his his Protege Jeff Van Gundy uh taking over the Knicks

And then beyond that uh you know you had the later on you had you know spre well and Hardaway had issues in Golden State and then they were going up against each other and and it’s just and then there were new rivalries created during it like PJ Brown and Charlie Ward which was

Totally random because there were two like PJ was the nicest guy I’ve ever covered with the Miami Heat and Charlie Ward was a very bias you know athlete and you know here you know you’ve got you know PJ flipping Charlie Ward uh after he had been antagonized and so it

Was just that kind of stuff again we’ll never we’ll never really see it that way again I mean there was also uh issues between zo and LJ which uh dated back to their days in Charlotte and were very very I’ll just leave it at this they were very personal uh type issues and

That was under the surface as well so you had all of these things that were going on during those series and you know they it hasn’t really been replicated since um well there have been some moments right I mean single ending Lin sanity right I mean keep squash Lin sanity you know Amari

STM and the fire extinguisher yes yes uh and of course you had uh Dwayne had this great game after Deno galinari hit him in the face uh there there are a whole bunch of uh of things that have happened between the teams Wade had the band The

What was it the uh the Wade like van van Wade game um so there have been moments between the two of them but the playoff series both of them um well the second one this last one last year was interesting in the sense that uh Brunson

You know became a star I think in that series like he had shown signs of it but I mean the respect that they have for Brunson is enormous and you know as we talk about the game tonight you know he’s he’s the key because adobi is still

Out uh Randall is still out it does not seem like either’s coming back anytime soon so tibs is basically just you know he just dragging his guys to 45 minutes I mean he’s playing like McBride 43 minutes um Josh Hart in the 40s and what what will be interesting for the Knicks

Is if either of those two guys return and and there’s no real guarantee with Randall ad anobi I think is going to return but he tends to take a while to come back from injuries uh then it’s like okay well you would think then he’d

Have a bench ready to go with some of these guys who been playing 40 plus minutes but he’ll just play at an Obi Randall Brunson 45 minutes and not play the other guys anyway that’s his that’s his uh tradition so um they’re an interesting team um but it really does

Start with Brunson and you know and then SPO got a chance to uh to work with Brunson this this summer as well so there there’s a little of a relationship that’s uh that’s been developed uh you know this uh you know between the two of

Them but I Alice I I guess I’ll go to you on this and then you know after the break will will kind of close uh projecting forward are you disappointed that the heat are in this position now that they have to drag themselves out of this yeah a th% I mean uh you

Know we go back to however many weeks ago it was when they had that that winning run that they were on right eight out of nine and I’m thinking okay this this team is not going to fall into that play and trap again but yeah it’s

Just it’s gotten to a point where a Miami Heat regular season just feels like an exercise in futility um you know they’ll wake me up again you know especially if they can avoid the play in and they’re only what a half game out of

The six seed right now so it’s not as if it’s unattainable they’re right there that’s why this whole rest versus seating priority uh uh thing even comes up but yeah no I’m definitely disappointed Ethan I mean after seeing this team and I know that making it to

The finals especially having to do it through the plane it’s very taxing and you know they be carryover when you’ve got some older bodies I get that but there were enough signs earlier in the year that this can be a team that can avoid that and play for a reasonable

Seed I do know the East got better uh around Miami and you look at what Milwaukee and and Boston have done in the offseason so you know thinking about a one or a two seed didn’t seem attainable we know this is a team that has shown the ability to turn it on in

The playoffs before but I guess I’ve just been frustrated with the way that this whole regular season has gone because parts of it have felt like a waste of time yeah I mean you had the seven game uh losing streak uh in the middle and and that’s when they had some guys who

Were actually healthy uh and and so that was disappointing and then of course we’ve had you know Tyler’s played 36 games um you know Jimmy’s effort has been inconsistent uh season I think that’s fair to say um and then you know I the one thing that has worked though is the

Trade of lowry for Rosier uh has paid dividends I mean if you look at rosier’s numbers in in March we’ve talked about them five on the floor um you know you average 18 five and five basically or or four and a half and four and a half on pretty decent efficiency actually so

Uh and he’s he has been a low turnover guy uh since he’s come so he he’s fit um I think he’s started to find his role and and where he can be more aggressive but again when Tyler comes back if Tyler comes back there’s going to be another

Adjustment to make all right we’ll close up this episode in a couple minutes but first we do want to mention a great sponsor of the five reason Sports Network our friends over at water clean up of Florida you can find them at wcu.com that’s wcu.com make sure you get

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Um I’ve said they have to go six and two if they’re going to get out of the plan um and one of those six wins has to be in Indiana yes uh that’s that’s that’s really the only way excuse me now their last two games of the season are against

Toronto Toronto’s lost like 14 games in a row and they have incentive to lose those two games because if they are in the top six in the lottery they keep their pick this year so it’s protected in that sense and right now they are the

Sixth worst team in the NBA um and so they kind of have to stay worse than Memphis and they’ve been doing a hell of a job of it because they’ve been losing every day uh so those last two games of the season are really gimmies uh for the

Heat or they should be so this is really about going four- two in the next six and to that end that means I I think you know they can’t be worse than one and two this week let’s just put it that way I mean fill it out New York Philadelphia

Houston um that they may end up being one and two but it can’t be worse than that and that’s all they can lose is is and they still have Dallas on the schedule as well um I think I think they’re gonna end up seven that’s where I think they’re going to

End up um I just don’t trust them to go up and win in Indiana um it’s been a tough place to play for the heat for a long time and I I I don’t know I don’t know if they have it in them this year so I kind of feel like

This made default to the seventh spot uh as much as I would like them to be in the six uh and get the week’s rest where do you see it going well if you’re telling me they got to go six and two if there’s a way to go five and three and

Squeeze in I I think that’s a possibility it’s just man I I I think they’re going to go two and 0 uh at least through these next two games you know they are they are favored by three and a half against the Knicks tonight which may be the kiss of death but I

Think they’re going to beat the Knicks I think they’re going to beat Philly on Thursday uh the Indiana game I look at as a tough test and my God uh home against Dallas crazy things can happen I man I this is one of those things Ethan

Where they’re going to end up going five and three they’re going to be the seven by the skin of their teeth and we’re going to have a lot of time on this network you know five on the floor and the five guys talking about the disappointment because they they will

Only have their themselves to blame right they’re only going to have their selves to blame and and Jimmy for and I’m sure he’s going to turn it on in the play in and he’s going to Superman and all that but they’re all going to have theirselves to blame for seemingly not

Taking the regular season seriously enough so I I think they’re going to go five and three down this stretch whether that’s enough to avoid the play in we’ll find out well they’re going to be looking at that loss to Washington among others uh there there have been some bad

Losses this year uh but the the biggest issue with this team is that they’re 0 and9 as a home Underdog this year see it is interesting they’re favored against the Knicks I thought they might be a pick them or Underdog they probably won’t be favored against Philly if MB is

Playing on Thursday so I I’m curious a lot of this has to do with the Nick’s injuries um so they just haven’t beaten good teams at home they they just the whole year and uh and that’s been a big issue and I think they are going to be

Pointing uh back to that at a certain point so again I I think it’s going to end up seven um it should have been five or six honestly and and that’s kind of kind of where it’s at even with the injuries they they had enough so to speak uh I

Think to Edge ahead of Cleveland which has been without a lot of players for a long time and honestly to to clear themselves of Philadelphia which didn’t have embiid for two months um you know the fact that Philly still in the picture with them and now Em’s coming

Back and nipping at their heels is not a great thing either so we’ll see how it plays out I’ll be at the arena tonight thanks to our sponsors jerseys 305.com water cleanup of Florida thanks to Alex we will be back on Thursday St

The Miami Heat will host the New York Knicks on Tuesday, April 3rd and Kaseya Center. Can the Heat extend their winning streak to three and knock off a historic rival in the process? Miami is currently in a play-in seed and a half game behind 6th seed Indiana. Upcoming games this week against the Knicks and 76ers will be pivotal. Hosts Alex Donno and Ethan Skolnick break down Miami’s current situation and take a look at the Knicks matchup.