The New York Knicks 3 biggest rivals next season
By Adam Kester
New York Knicks Rivals 2021-22: The Miami Heat
Knicks-Heat games were blood baths last season. There may not be a team in the NBA with a more similar play style to the Knicks than Miami.
Miami is a slow, grind-it-out team that prides itself on defense and being the better team late in games.
Last season was very much a failure for the Miami Heat. Coming off an NBA Finals appearance, the expectation was to once again be in contention to win the East, and they were quickly bounced from the playoffs in the first round.
Still, this is a team that was just 1 game worse than the New York Knicks in the standings and swept New York in their regular season matchups.
Every time these two teams played, it was a grueling game that came down to the last few minutes.
Between RJ Barrett missing a buzzer beating layup, Jimmy Butler getting foul calls late in the game, and Mitchell Robinson and Bam Adeabyo duking it out in the paint, these games always were exhausting to watch.
Every time these two teams played, you could tell their was a higher-than-normal level of intensity between the two teams. Tom Thibodeau’s squad may have reignited a Knicks rivarly that once upon a time was one of the most storied NBA matchups of the late 1990s. Now they’re to get multiple national TV games in 2021-22. Get hyped.