Heat top Knicks 96-92 in Game 6, advance to Conference Finals

MIAMI (AP)— Heat coach Erik Spoelstra walked into the postgame interviewroom, a cup of a celebratory beverage in his hand, took a seat andbegan explaining how difficult the journey has been for Heat.

The regularseason was a struggle. They needed to survive the play-in. Theywere three minutes away from going home before the playoffs evenstarted, needing a rally just to earn the right to play top-seededMilwaukee.

Allforgotten. They’re in the NBA’s final four — getting there as a No.8 seed.

JimmyButler scored 24 points, Bam Adebayo added 23 and the Heat areheaded back to the Eastern Conference finals after topping the NewYork Knicks 96-92 in Game 6 on Friday night.

“It isreally frickin’ hard to get to the Eastern Conference finals,”Spoelstra said.

Maybe forsome franchises. Not for Miami. The Heat are headed there for the10th time overall, the seventh time in the last 13 years and thethird time in the past four seasons. They’ll play Game 1 at eitherBoston or Philadelphia on Wednesday; those teams will decide theirEast semifinal series Sunday.

Max Strusscored 14 points and Kyle Lowry had 11 points and nine assists forthe Heat. They’re the second No. 8 seed in NBA history to make theconference finals — joining the Knicks, who pulled it off in1999.

JalenBrunson was spectacular for New York, scoring 41 points on14-for-22 shooting. But his teammates combined for only 51 points —Julius Randle had 15 and RJ Barrett 11 on 1-for-10 shooting. JoshHart also had 11 points for the Knicks.

“Congratulations to the Heat, to the organization, to the coachingstaff, Spo and Pat Riley and all their players,” Knicks coach TomThibodeau said. “They played tough in this series and hats off tothem. But I’m proud of our guys. There’s always disappointment inthe end of the season and in the end, there’ll be one teamstanding. ... Proud of the way this team worked all year.”

It wasdicey at the end, but Miami survived. Gabe Vincent was called for aflagrant-1 against Brunson with just under a minute left, startinga run where the Knicks scored four points in 4.6 seconds.

Brunsonmade the free throws, Hart added a layup and a 92-86 lead was downto 92-90.

The Knicksgot a stop at the other end, but never got a shot off on the nextpossession. Lowry knocked the ball away for a steal, Butler madetwo free throws with 14.4 seconds left and the countdown back tothe conference finals was on.

“It was abattle,” Lowry said. “A Tom Thibodeau-coached team, they’re alwaysgoing to play hard. ... This was a grind and we found a way.”

Miami waswhistled for four fouls in the first 2:15 of the fourth quarter,setting the tone for New York to keep getting to the linethroughout the final period.

The Knickstied it early in the third, but missed 10 other field-goal attemptsin the second half — along with two free throws — that would havepulled New York into a tie or given it the lead.

Brunson had22 points in the first half, tying his third-most beforeintermission in any game this season – and his most ever byhalftime of a playoff game. He had 15 in the first quarter when theKnicks came out flying to grab early control.

New Yorkled 14 in the opening quarter, and Miami never led by more than twoin the first 24 minutes. But it was Miami with the lead at thehalf, going up 51-50 by the break in large part because it finallykept New York off the line.

The Knicksmade 11 free throws in the first quarter — the most by any Heatopponent this season and tying the fourth-most against Miami in anopening period over the last decade. But they didn’t even get tothe line in the final 15:16 of the half.

The scoreto that point: Knicks 29, Heat 17. The score over the rest of thehalf: Heat 34, Knicks 21. And the lead never changed handsagain.

“We’ve gotguys that just want it,” Lowry said.

TIP-INS

Knicks:Brunson and Quentin Grimes played all 48 minutes of Game 5, butthat was quickly off the table in Game 6. Grimes sat for 6:41 ofthe opening half, Brunson for 2:44, though some of that was becausehe got his third foul with 37.6 seconds left. … Immanuel Quickley(sprained left ankle) missed his third consecutive game. … New Yorkfinished 53-40, its best record in a season since going 60-34 in2012-13.

Heat:Victor Oladipo was at the game, on crutches and braced aftersurgery to repair his torn patellar tendon. … The Heat had threestarters (Vincent, Strus and Butler) all shorter than the MiamiMarlins’ starting pitcher a couple miles away — rookie Eury Perez,who made his big-league debut, is 6-foot-8. … Miami had 3-pointtries as time expired in each of the first three quarters. They allmissed.

CELEBWATCH

Among thoseat the game: Miami Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel — even on a rookieminicamp weekend for his team – and Dallas (and former Knicks)guard Tim Hardaway Jr., whose father’s jersey is among thoseretired by the Heat.