The New York Knicks spent the last four games of their West Coast road trip trying to figure out their offense without Jalen Brunson.
The Miami Heat have spent a far longer period of time trying to rediscover themselves.
A pair of struggling Eastern Conference rivals will meet Monday night, when the Knicks return home to host the Heat.
Both teams were off Sunday after suffering road defeats Saturday night, when the Knicks fell to the Golden State Warriors 97-94 while the Heat’s skid extended to seven as they lost to the Memphis Grizzlies 125-91.
Dropping three of five on the West Coast trek didn’t do much damage to the playoff positioning for the Knicks (42-24). They are in third place in the Eastern Conference, four games ahead of the fourth-place Milwaukee Bucks entering Sunday and six games clear of the Detroit Pistons, who occupy the sixth and final guaranteed playoff spot.
But the Knicks’ offensive struggles without Brunson magnify their reliance on the star point guard. Brunson is expected to be out until at least late this month with an ankle injury he suffered in overtime of a 113-109 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers March 6 in the opening game of the road trip.
The Knicks averaged 109 points per game in the final four games of the trip, down from their season average of 116.7 points per game. The 94 points Saturday matched a season low for New York, which also scored fewer than 100 points in a 105-95 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers on March 7.
The Knicks scored fewer than 100 points just five times in their first 62 games of the season.
“We’re struggling offensively — I don’t think that’s a secret,” said Knicks forward Josh Hart, who was scoreless in more than 38 minutes Saturday night. “With more reps, more time getting organized, getting in play calls, those kinds of things, I think everything will flourish.”
The struggles have been far more protracted for the Heat (29-38), who are 4-14 since trading the controversial Jimmy Butler to the Warriors on Feb. 6. Miami was in sixth place in the East before the Butler deal but has fallen into ninth place, one game ahead of the Chicago Bulls, who are in possession of the final play-in bid.
Seven of Miami’s last 14 losses have been by double digits, including each of the last three. The Heat led the Clippers for just 19 seconds in a 119-104 loss on Wednesday and led the Boston Celtics for fewer than 12 minutes in a 103-91 defeat Friday before trailing wire-to-wire Saturday, when the Grizzlies played without star guard Ja Morant.
The Heat need to go 12-3 down the stretch to avoid their first losing season since 2018-19 and just their third in Erik Spoelstra’s 17 seasons at the helm.
“We have a certain standard of how we expect to play and compete and we did not meet that standard,” Spoelstra said Saturday night. “When we meet that standard, it doesn’t mean that we’re going to win. Obviously, we’re struggling to figure out how to win games.”
Tyler Herro paces the Heat with 23.6 points and 5.7 assists per game.
–Field Level Media
