MIAMI — Maybe this is why the Kaseya Center always feels like a walk-in freezer.
Black curtains trap the humid South Beach air outside while frigid gusts whip through the arena bowl, a chill that seems to seep into visiting teams. And for the second straight trip to Miami, the Knicks froze.
They lost their first game of the season on these same floors back on Oct. 26, a night they blamed on open threes refusing to fall. Monday’s problems went well beyond the arc — but the shooting slump was familiar — in a 115–113 loss to the Heat.
New York opened the night 6-of-30 from deep across the first 45 minutes before Miles McBride finally cracked through, drilling back-to-back threes to pull the Knicks within four with under two minutes left. It echoed their 15-of-54 brickfest in the October meeting.
This time, though, the Knicks were far more shorthanded. Jalen Brunson (sprained ankle) and OG Anunoby (hamstring strain) both missed the opener of this five-game trip, with Anunoby staying home for treatment.
And naturally, the Knicks rediscovered the three-ball too late. Karl-Anthony Towns hit his first triple — after six straight misses — with 22.4 seconds left to cut Miami’s lead to 114-113. Landry Shamet then intentionally fouled Davion Mitchell, who split the pair to keep the door open.
McBride missed a pull-up that would have tied it, the Knicks forced a jump ball on the rebound, Towns won the tip, and McBride missed a point-blank layup. Towns gathered that rebound, too, but his fading jumper at the horn hit back iron.
Towns finished with 22 points and 16 rebounds on 7-of-20 shooting. McBride scored a game-high 25 on 10-of-23, while Mikal Bridges added 23 on 9-of-14 — but didn’t score in the fourth quarter.
The Knicks’ defense faltered late as well. Miami shot 14-of-35 from three (40%), with Simone Fontecchio and Dru Smith combining for seven threes on 11 attempts off the bench. The Heat were also without stars Bam Adebayo (toe) and Tyler Herro (ankle surgery) but found enough spacing and movement to exploit New York’s coverages.
Before the game, head coach Mike Brown acknowledged the challenge of balancing paint protection with modern spacing.
“There are a couple things we can do [to improve our three-point defense], and hopefully we’ll get better at it,” Brown said. “A lot of the top teams — Oklahoma City, even Miami — give up a lot of threes because their emphasis is on protecting the paint. We’re no different.
“Shots in the paint are a lot easier than threes. But we have to do a better job guarding the ball. Teams are probably gonna shoot a lot against us because we’re trying to protect the paint. Hopefully we get to where our closeouts are more impactful, and that starts with guarding the basketball.”
The Knicks didn’t clear that bar on Monday — and in Miami’s deep freeze, their shooting never thawed in time.
Meanwhile, seven Heat players scored in double figures led by 19 from Norman Powell and 18 from Mitchell. The Heat bench outscored New York’s, 43-28, as the Knicks only got scoring production from two reserves: Josh Hart and Jordan Clarkson.
And the last time the Knicks lost in South Beach? It sparked a troubling three-game losing streak with each defeat exacerbating the issues prevailing in each previous loss.
The Knicks likely won’t face the same issues: They travel to Dallas to face the Mavericks (4-10) on Wednesday, have two days off before a rematch against the Orlando Magic, then have two gimme games against Eastern Conference bottom-dwellers: Brooklyn and Charlotte.
As for New York’s crunch time struggles? The Knicks missed a ton of shots down the stretch, but never fear: Brunson will soon appear. The captain who’s been sidelined since Wednesday’s loss to the Magic shot around the same ice-cold Kaseya Center floors ahead of tipoff on Monday.
Brunson’s team did a good job holding down the fort for 47 minutes, but they could have used the captain with the game on the line.
