Welcome to South Beach, Joe Johnson. The ex-Brooklyn Net shooting guard will wear a new jersey later tonight, as he makes his first appearance as a Miami Heat when the team goes up against the New York Knicks. The Knicks are looking to even their regular season series with Miami, which leads the matchup, 2-1.
Read on for more about this game. You can also check out our breakdown of Cavs vs. Washington.
After recording three-straight wins, the Heat now find themselves on a losing skid. They’ll look to avoid losing three in a row later tonight in Madison Square Garden, where Miami is 4-0 SU and ATS in its last four trips there.
And helping the Heat do just that is new acquisition Joe Johnson, whom Miami signed following the seven-time All-Star’s successful buyout negotiation with Brooklyn. Johnson is definitely an added asset to a Miami, which has been among the lowest scoring teams in the NBA. Miami is averaging just 97.1 points per game this season, just 28th overall. In 57 games played for Brooklyn this season, Johnson averaged 11.8 points on 40.6 shooting percentage.
Miami is coming off back-to-back losses to Golden State on Wednesday (118-112) and to Boston on Saturday (101-89). With Chris Bosh out indefinitely, Dwyane Wade has been pressed to play like vintage Dwyane Wade lately, as he’s averaged 22.3 points over the Heat’s last five games.
Bosh’s absence also meant that Hassan Whiteside and Luol Deng have to work double time in the paint. Bosh played in all three games against New York prior to tonight’s affair in MSG, with the Heat outscoring the Knicks in the paint in each of those contests. Miami had 50 points in the paint as against New York’s 48 in a 98-90 loss on January 6.
Whiteside has averaged 19.5 points, 17.3 rebounds, and 4.5 blocks in his last four games. He had 13 points, 15 rebounds, and eight blocks versus Boston. His presence down low should make life in the paint even tougher for New York, which is already last in the NBA in inside scoring with just 36.5 PITP per game.
The absence of Chris Bosh for Miami is nothing but good news for the Knicks. New York had serious problems stopping Bosh in the three previous meetings with Miami, as the Heat big man averaged a team-leading 21.3 points in those contests.
New York’s defense is far from impressive of late, as the Knicks have allowed 105.9 points over their last seven games. The Knicks did limit Orlando to only 41.9 shooting from the field though in a 108-95 win at home on Friday. They may also benefit from Miami being in the process of building chemistry now that a new piece in Joe Johnson is added to its roster.
New York’s offense, meanwhile, will continue to fall heavily on the shoulders of Kristaps Porzingis and Carmelo Anthony. Porzingis has averaged 17.4 points in his last eight outings, which includes his 18-point performance in the win over Orlando. As for Anthony, the veteran has put up impressive numbers with averages of 21.9 points and 10.1 rebounds in his past nine games. He had 25 points on 9-for-12 shooting in the January win over Miami.
Jose Calderon has come to life of late, as he’s recorded 34 total points in the Knicks’ previous two games.
