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Dwyane Wade never needed to worry during Miami’s dominant days about looking up at the standings and wondering who the Heat would face to open the playoffs.This time this matchup won’t be in their favor Youth Jake McCabe Jersey , but Wade just wants the Heat to be playing well when they get to it.
Rookie Damyean Dotson had career-high 30 points and 11 rebounds, reserve Luke Kornet added a career-best 17 points and the New York Knicks blew out the Heat 122-98 on Friday night.
”We want to go into the playoffs on a high note. You don’t want to go in losing three in a row, you want to definitely go in winning and feeling good about yourself and playing,” said Wade, a three-time champion with Miami.
”Now on the seeds part, whatever happens at the end of the day from the seeds standpoint, (it) is what it is. Like I said, we got the bottom, we got to play with (a) Goliath team anyways. So, it really doesn’t matter.”
Trey Burke scored 17 points and Kyle O’Quinn had 14 points and 14 rebounds as the Knicks snapped a four-game losing streak.
New York hit a season-best 18 3-pointers, with Dotson and Kornet making four apiece. The Knicks assisted on 33 of their 45 made attempts.
”Keep believing. Keep working hard,” said Dotson, who’s played sparingly this season. The 23-year-old, picked 44th overall in the 2017 draft, became the first Knicks rookie to post 30 points and 10 rebounds since Patrick Ewing in 1985-86.
Goran Dragic had 15 points and Hassan Whiteside chipped in 14 in Miami’s disappointing effort with the postseason set to tip off next weekend.
”I hardly recognized our team tonight compared to who we have been and how we’ve have been playing,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said.
The Heat remained in sixth place in the East, a half-game ahead of Milwaukee. The Knicks host the Bucks on Saturday.
The Heat will wrap up the regular season against Oklahoma City Mathieu Perreault Jersey , currently sixth in the Western Conference race, on Monday, and East No. 1 Toronto on Wednesday, a pair of games Wade would like to get on their side before the postseason run picks up.
”We came out and laid an egg,” the 14-year veteran said. ”So, we have to come back Monday at home versus a team that is fighting for the playoffs. We have to continue to play well like we have been since the All-Star break going into the playoffs.”
Miami scored the first four points of the game, and from there the Knicks took over, ending the first quarter with a 34-23 lead despite losing forward Michael Beasley for good with a left knee injury just 14 seconds into the contest.
New York went into the half leading 63-50 and led by 18 at the start of the third quarter before Miami got as close as 10 points when James Johnson scored five straight to cut the gap 69-59 with 9:56 remaining.
The Knicks then outscored Miami 27-19 to put the game away for good, going into the fourth quarter up 96-78.
TIP-INS
Knicks: The Knicks were without Emmanuel Mudiay (headache) in the second half after the point guard lost his balance late in the second quarter and fell out of bounds near the baseline, hitting his head on a camera man’s knee. . New York’s Tim Hardaway Jr. had to leave the game with 41 seconds left in the third quarter after he grabbed a rebound and injured his left ankle as he landed on his feet. He sat down briefly on the bench before leaving for the locker room. X-Rays were negative. … Knicks coach Jeff Hornacek said there could be chance Beasley plays Saturday night since his injury wasn’t too serious.
Heat: Kelly Olynyk scored 11 points and Wayne Ellington had 10.
INSIDER’S TIP
The LeBron James billboard craze hit the Big Apple, and someone that’s very close to the three-time NBA champion laughed it off.
Ahead of James’ final visit of the season with Cleveland to Madison Square Garden on Monday night, a billboard raised right across the street from the arena’s main entrance implores this summer’s top free agent to sign with the Knicks.
”KING OF NEW YORK? PROVE IT. KINGJAMESNYC2018”, read the sign placed by NYC Ads Co., a New York City-based marketing company.
Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Portland, Oregon and Akron Chris Wideman Jersey , Ohio, James’ hometown, have each devised their billboard campaigns with hopes of swaying the 14-time All-Star’s decision once the free agency market opens up in July.
Wade’s take before the Heat took the floor at the Garden on Friday night?
”Good luck”, he said.
UP NEXT
Heat: Host the Oklahoma City Thunder on Monday night.
Knicks: Host the Milwaukee Bucks on Saturday night.
For the first time since 2004, the Minnesota Timberwolves are entering May without their customary collection of good-luck charms for the NBA draft lottery.The longest-running absence from the playoffs in the league finally over, the Wolves took a significant accomplishment into the summer after their 47-35 record during the regular season tied for the fifth-best in franchise history.
”When you haven’t done something for 14 years, it’s a major step for our organization, and it’s not easy to do. Winning in this league is very difficult, and we should understand that,” said president of basketball operations and head coach Tom Thibodeau, who joined general manager Scott Layden on Monday for a wrapup news conference.
Jimmy Butler and Karl-Anthony Towns gave the Timberwolves multiple representatives at the All-Star game for the first time since Kevin Garnett and Sam Cassell in 2004 on their way to the Western Conference finals. That was the most recent postseason appearance until the first round series with Houston tipped off earlier this month. With 16 out of 41 home games declared sellouts, they had their highest number since 1991-92, and local television ratings were way up, too.
Still, in typical Timberwolves fashion, the road to relevancy was not without potholes.
Falling in five games to the Rockets was forgivable, considering their opponent had the NBA’s best record Rickard Rakell Jersey , but the Wolves were beaten a total of eight times by the league’s bottom eight teams that all won fewer than 29 games. Win just two of those, and they’re in third place in the West with a much more favorable matchup for the playoffs.
With Butler the resident alpha male in the locker room, the Wolves can no longer be considered an up-and-coming atmosphere where patience with the development of young cornerstones Towns and Andrew Wiggins will be welcomed. With the presence of Butler and the other acquisitions from last year, Taj Gibson, Jeff Teague and Jamal Crawford, there’s clearly a win-now window in place.
”They’ve learned what it takes to get yourself to the playoffs,” Butler said. ”Now us as a whole, we have to figure out what it takes to win, whenever we get there. No matter what seed we are, that’s what we’re expected to do.”
Layden wondered aloud whether the Wolves should have been more aggressive to acquire a new player at the trade deadline in February.
”We had a lot of things that went back and forth, and maybe we should’ve done something a little different,” Layden said. ”I take responsibility for that, but we’re always looking to push and push and get better.”
BUTLER’S HEALTH
Thibodeau has always leaned heavily on the starters he trusts the most, and this season with the Wolves was no exception. Butler was third in the NBA with an average of 36.7 minutes played per game, and coincidentally or not he missed 23 games, all but two because of trouble with his right knee. Thibodeau said Butler will not need an additional procedure.
Butler can also opt out of his contract after next season, without an extension in place.
”It’s important for him to feel good about everything that we’re doing here Bobby Ryan Jersey ,” Thibodeau said.
LONG RANGE
The Wolves actually led the NBA during the playoffs with a 41.3 percent make rate from 3-point range, but part of the problem is a lack of space in the playbook for setting up attempts from beyond the arc. They finished last in the league in the regular season with an average of eight 3-pointers made per game.
”I thought our guys in the second half of the season were doing a very good job of looking for opportunities, but we do have to take more,” Thibodeau said.
Even owner Glen Taylor, in an interview earlier this month with his hometown newspaper, the Mankato Free Press, openly questioned the lack of improvement.
”If other teams can learn to shoot 3s, why can’t we?” Taylor told the Free Press.
WINNING WITH WIGGINS?
The maximum contract the Wolves gave Wiggins last summer will kick in next season, paying the 23-year-old more than $25 million. There’s no player on the roster who will be under more pressure to be more consistently productive on both ends of the court.
”The experience of the playoffs was huge for him. He did a lot of good things,” Thibodeau said. ”I think we saw down the stretch him playing a more complete game, and I think he can build off that.”
BJELICA
Nemanja Bjelica, who played both forward spots off the bench and was a relatively productive starter during Butler’s absence, will be a restricted free agent. His playing time was scant during the playoff series, which Thibodeau said was matchup-related.
”But I thought overall he played really well for us,” Thibodeau said. ”Sometimes you have to put the team first.”
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