Heat Return Home For Battle With Rival Knicks
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MIAMI (CBSMiami/SportsDirect) – Things have been trending upwards for the Miami Heat lately.
The Heat came up just short in their quest for a sweep of a three-game road trip but remain confident with Hassan Whiteside dominating in the middle.
Miami will make a brief pit stop at home to host the New York Knicks on Tuesday before embarking on another three-game trip.
The Heat topped Denver and Utah on back-to-back nights to begin the trip but fell 99-92 at Portland on Saturday despite 28 points on 12-of-16 shooting, 16 rebounds and five blocks from Whiteside.
"You'd love to go 3-0 but anytime you go positive on a road trip it's always motivation," Whiteside told reporters. "I think we'll build on this. We've just got to play like this at home. We've got some building blocks to build on, so when we get back to Miami we can build on this."
The Knicks are building in a positive direction with wins in three straight and eight of the last 11.
The frontcourt combination of Kristaps Porzingis and Carmelo Anthony stepped up in the last three games and point guard Derrick Rose is beginning to settle into New York with consistent production of late.
TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, MSG (New York), FSN Sun (Miami)
ABOUT THE KNICKS (11-9): Porzingis is off with his shot of late - shooting 8-of-30 in the last two games - but made his presence felt with 15 points, 14 rebounds and four blocks in Sunday's 106-98 win over the Sacramento Kings.
The 21-year-old Latvian is averaging 3.2 blocks in the last six games and is logging more time in the middle when New York goes to a smaller lineup and pushes him into the center spot, with Anthony on the opposite block.
Anthony is in his own shooting funk at 33 percent from the floor in the last five games but is still producing in the clutch and buried a key 3-pointer in the final minutes on Sunday to help hold off the Kings.
ABOUT THE HEAT (7-13): Miami is dealing with injuries to several key rotation players but is leaning on Whiteside and point guard Goran Dragic, who is averaging 22 points in four games since coming back from an elbow injury.
Dragic recorded 27 points and 17 assists in his first game back on Nov. 28 and came up just shy of a triple-double with 18 points, nine rebounds and eight assists at Portland on Saturday.
Dragic's play is helping to cover for the loss of starting shooting guard Dion Waiters, who sat the last four games and will miss at least two more weeks with a groin tear.
BUZZER BEATERS
- Rose is averaging 21.3 points on 54.1 percent shooting over the last four games.
- Heat SG Josh Richardson (ankle) sat out the last three games and is day-to-day.
- Miami took three of the four meetings last season, with the three wins coming by an average of 17.7 points.
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