MIAMI — In the late morning at AmericanAirlines Arena, Knicks backup center Bobby Portis called the Heat “the shocker team in the league this year.’’
By the late evening, the Knicks confirmed it — victims of a shock-and-awe performance by the Heat, who brutalized the visitors from the opening tip, ran up a 34-point lead early in the third quarter and prevailed 129-114.
“They just hit us first,’’ Knicks forward Marcus Morris said. “They got us back on our heels. We played into their hands. The ball was sticking a bit. We took a step back. We’re better than that.”
Interim Knicks coach Mike Miller, whose record fell to 3-4, knew this would be a huge step up in class after his team had throttled Atlanta on Tuesday. He cited the Heat being near the top of the NBA in offensive and defensive rating (points per 100 possessions).
“They’ve proven they’re hard to beat,’’ Miller said.
Miller proved right. Miami coach Erik Spoelstra — still smarting from the Knicks’ firing of his buddy David Fizdale — had his Heat running on all cylinders, drilling 3-pointers and getting to the hoop for dunks with their young guns as their opponents appeared defenseless.
“They’re a great team but we were a step slow on defense,’’ RJ Barrett said. “They take advantage of every mistake.’’
Heat center Meyers Leonard finished off the first half with force — ramming home a putback dunk with .1 seconds left to give the Heat a 70-47 lead. Miller’s Knicks allowed the Heat to shoot 61.5 percent from the field in the half and Miami led 39-20 after one.
In the first half, Miami shot 61.5 percent — 9 of 19 from 3-point range — while the Knicks were a brutal 2 of 13 from 3 in falling behind 70-47. And the Heat also hurt the Knicks by tossing a series of alley-oop lobs for young athletic forward Derrick Jones Jr. (14 points) to dunk.
It was such a bad start, Miller said he would ponder a starting lineup change against Milwaukee with Elfrid Payton for Frank Ntilikina, who has started the past 24 games at point guard. Payton started at the point to open the second half Friday, as Miller benched Ntilikina, who had a brutal night, finishing with three points and two turnovers in 16 minutes.
Now the Knicks get the Bucks (25-4) on Saturday at the Garden in a ridiculously tough back-to-back. Milwaukee stomped the Knicks by 44 points earlier this month and the loss led to Fizdale’s axing days later.
“How tough is it?’’ Morris said. “It’s tough. Nobody’s going to feel sorry for us.’’
“It’s kind of hard not to remember it,’’ said Portis, who led the Knicks on Friday with 30 points on 12-for-17 shooting. “They whipped our tails that night. I feel like we’re a new team now.’’
It didn’t look quite like that in Miami. Superstar Jimmy Butler (nine points, eight assists) was quiet scoring-wise, but the Heat still moved to 21-8 and the Knicks fell to 7-22.
Miami center Bam Adebayo led six double-figure scorers with 20 points. Second-year man Duncan Robinson hit 6 of 10 3-pointers for 18 points and rookies Kendrick Nunn (15 points) and Tyler Herro (12 points, 5 of 10 shooting) also contributed.
Barrett, meanwhile, suffered through one of his worst outings, coming off a career-high 27 points against the Hawks. Barrett was 1 of 10 for two points and zero assists. He was 0-for-3 from beyond the 3-point line and missed his pair of free throws.
“I hit everything the other night and didn’t hit anything tonight,’’ Barrett said. “It happens. I love it and we get to play [Saturday]. I felt I had some good looks. They were tough at the basket but there were looks I can make.’’
On the bright side, center Mitchell Robinson had a good game with 18 points and Morris added 15, but the defense wasn’t there.
“They put a lot of pressure on our defense,’’ Miller said. “Any coverage we weren’t exact, they took advantage of. They screen, space, cut hard. We were getting two on the ball a lot and they found open guys. When you play a team like that, you have to take something away. You can’t give up the layups and the paints shots and the 3s. we gave both.’’
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