Jimmy Butler #22 of the Miami Heat drives against RJ Barrett #9 of the New York Knicks in the second half at Madison Square Garden on February 25, 2022 in New York City. Jim McIsaac/Getty Images/AFP
Tyler Herro scored a team-high 25 points off the bench Friday night for the visiting Miami Heat, who overcame a 46-point effort by RJ Barrett to beat the New York Knicks 115-100.
Bam Adebayo (16 points, 16 rebounds) posted a double-double while adding four blocked shots as Jimmy Butler scored 23 points and Kyle Lowry added 19 points and nine rebounds for the Heat, which won for the seventh time in eight games and moved back into a tie with the Chicago Bulls atop the Eastern Conference at 39-21.
The win also extended the Heat’s road winning streak to six games, dating back to Feb. 3.
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Barrett, who missed the final four games before the All-Star Break due to a sprained left ankle, showed no signs of rust in his first action since Feb. 8. The 21-year-old scored 30 points in the first half — just six shy of his career-high entering the night — and ended up with the most points by a Knicks player since Carmelo Anthony scored 46 points against the Utah Jazz on Nov. 14, 2014.
Evan Fournier had 13 points, Alec Burks added 12 points and eight rebounds and Julius Randle (11 points, eight rebounds and eight assists) flirted with a triple-double despite shooting just 2-for-15 from the floor.
The Knicks lost for the eighth time in nine games and fell 3 1/2 games behind the Atlanta Hawks in the race for 10th place in the Eastern Conference and the last bid to the play-in tournament.
The Knicks opened the game on a 10-0 run, led 32-30 at the end of the first quarter and didn’t trail until the Heat mounted a 22-4 run to take a 54-40 lead. Gabe Vincent had a team-high six points during the outburst, including the 3-pointer that put Miami ahead for good at 39-38 with 9:14 left.
The Knicks were 1-for-8 from the field with three turnovers during the Heat’s run before Barrett outscored Miami 15-11 over the final 4:11 to pull the hosts within 65-55.
The Knicks got as close as one point at 86-85 on Randle’s free throw with 41.6 seconds left in the third, but Lowry drained four straight free throws to end the quarter and begin a 22-10 run for the Heat, who led by at least eight points for the final 8:35.