Game Time: 7:30 PM ET, Friday, February 25th, 2022 

Venue: Madison Square Garden, Manhattan New York

Where to Watch:  ESPN

DraftKings:  Spread:  Heat -4.5; O/U 210.5

BetMGM:  Spread:  

VegasInsider:  Spread: 

WynnBet: Spread:  

Heat: 38-21, 1st place Eastern Conference

Knicks: 25-34, 12th place Eastern Conference

An Eastern Conference battle between lifelong foes.  The Heat vs Knicks just scream 90’s basketball!  It’s pure rivalry that has a real history of impact on the Eastern Conference standings, playoffs, and Finals.  This year however… the Knicks stink!  They and their pushy booing fans can’t hold a candle to the Heat.  The Heat are the conferences top team for now… The Knicks are an afterthought.  I suppose the problem that doesn’t put this matchup in primetime is the Knicks have seriously regressed from their great performance last season.  The Knicks were killer last season… led by Julius Randle, they mowed down opponents and wound up doing serious damage in the Playoffs.  This season the Knicks are still led by PF Julius Randle… he leads them in practically every category… but he is booed by the home crowd because he dared to “thumbs down” them and their spoiled petards during a comeback victory that he orchestrated.  Knicks fans desperately want Julius Randle (their only consistently good player) shipped out of town and his job given to Obi Toppin… the backup PF that won the worst slam dunk contest in anyone’s memory.  The Heat, by contrast get cheered by their fans.  They also have stars all over the court from SF Jimmy Butler, PF/C Bam Adebayo, PG Kyle Lowry, and of course a cadre of shooters that laugh at the Knicks shooters. The Heat love winning and have done it year after year for decades now.  They have had down years in the mix, but they quickly rebuild and simply enjoy winning.  The Heat fans cheer… even when the Heat are bad… the Heat fans don’t care who owns the team.  The Heat fans are the sixth man on the court whenever they play the Knicks.

The Miami Heat have won 6 of their last 10 games.  They are getting beat up in the brutal East. All the teams are.  The top 3 teams in the West would walk to a first place finish in the East.  They are 4-5-1 ATS during that ten-game run.  The All-Star break landed Jimmy Butler in Cleveland, but he was mostly invisible.  That doesn’t take away from how effective leading scorer Jimmy Butler is… at 21.8 ppg, 6.4 rpg, and 6.0 apg… Jimmy is one of the most effective leaders in the entire sport.  His allowing himself to become invisible during the all-star break is indicative of maybe a more relaxed attitude… not of his complete effectiveness on winning and losing.  Surrounded by PG Kyle Lowry and PF Bam Adebayo… the Heat have a legit big three.  That big three is supported by shooters like Duncan Robinson and Tyler Herro.  After that the team has a loaded injury list.  It sucks.  We simply don’t know how they could actually ever have been if they had PF Markieff Morris this whole season… The roster is ready to win.  The East just has to break right for them… when does it ever break right?

The New York Knicks have won just 2 of their last 10 games.  They only beat the Golden State Warriors and the Sacramento Kings.  Wait!!... aren’t the Warriors GREAT?... sure, but the Knicks have TERRIBLE coaching… So occasionally the talent rises up to beat an opponent but mostly they are built and coached to lose.  The team traded SF Kevin Knox for SF Cam Reddish… maybe they could have some more shooting?... Then the albatross coach simply didn't give Cam Reddish any run.  A sure way to break the spirit of a young player looking to resurrect his career.  We will never know.  I can guarantee you that Cam Reddish will score 40 points in a weird mid-season game for some other team a few years from now… and NBA watchers will say “Oh yeah.. Cam Reddish?… wasn’t he be a big deal at one point?”.  When that does happen, Quentin Grimes, Immanuel Quickley, and Derrick Rose will all be out of the league.  So will Big Tom BTW.

AAA Sports has LONG OWNED the pro hardwood! The NBA is BACK, and so is AAA Sports, ready to BLOW THE DOORS off the sportsbooks! Join them with a weekly or monthly all sports subscription and prepare to watch your "ROI" go through the roof!... Don’t miss out! Get AAA Sports’ picks!   You can discover the best  picks right now at the Shop Picks page, where you can find all of the Best Bets from our champion sports handicappers. NCAAF, NFL, MLB, college football… get positive value from all your bets! Expert picks!  Fun fact… winning a wager is much better than making a wager!

The Heat are 38-21 on the season, but 33-25-1 ATS.  They have logged 35 Overs and 24 Unders.  They have gone 19-14 in road games.

The Knicks are 25-34 on the season, but 26-33 ATS.  They have notched 28 Overs and 31 Unders.  They are a dismal 13-17 in home games.

The Miami Heat are 16th in scoring with 108.9 ppg, 15th in rebounds with 44.8 per game, and 14th in AST/TO ratio with 1.7.  They are fantastic shooters at 14th FG%, 3rd in 3PT%, and 4th in FT%.  On Defense they rank 5th while holding opponents to 104.4 ppg.

The New York Knicks are a dismal 27th in scoring with 105.1 ppg, 7th in rebounds with 46.1 per game, and 26th in AST/TO ratio with 1.6.  Terrible shooters at 27th in FG%, 16th in 3PT%, and 25th in FT%.  On defense they rank 8th while allowing 106.6 ppg.  Big Tom is a defensive coach who doesn’t seem to understand how to direct an offense.  He favors vets to young guys… he is TNT to the identities of his last 3 teams.  The guy should be gone… long gone.  We have a place for defensive coaches in basketball and that is Division II junior colleges and spastic regional schools.  It isn’t in the NBA where the big boys have to score enough per game to beat the Jokic, The Greek Freak, the Celtic Twins, and the Brooklyn Bums.

Our prediction for Friday, February 25th is….  Heat 118 - Knicks 101

The Heat will walk all over the Knicks.  The Heat can score and hit shots… the Knicks have an underutilized star in Julius Randle that simply can’t do everything… no matter how much you boo him.

Don't miss our champion handicappers' Free NBA Picks and Premium Selections every day here at Bigal.com. Just click on Shop Picks for our Best Bets, or click on Shop Subscriptions to

join for a week or a month. And if you enjoyed this Heat/Knicks Preview, be sure to bookmark Bigal.com for our daily Game Previews and Predictions.  Get help with all your college football picks, National Football league, NCAA brackets, or any prop bets on your season schedule. 

Miami is 259-210 ATS when playing a team with a losing record since 1996

Miami is 48 Over and 30 Under versus poor foul-drawing teams the last 3 seasons.

Miami is 33-24 ATS in all games this season.

Miami is 75-50 ATS in road games where Miami has won straight up since 1996.

Heat: SG Victor Oladipo (knee) Out ** SG Tyler Herro (knees) Quest ** C Dwayne Demon (back) Quest ** PF Markieff Morris (neck) Out for season.

Knicks: PG Kemba Walker (conditioning) Out ** C Nerlens Noel (knee) Out ** PG Derrick Rose (ankle) Out ** SF RJ Barrett (ankle) Out 

Heat: PF PJ Tucker, SF Jimmy Butler, C Bam Adebayo, PG Kyle Lowry, SG Duncan Robinson

Knicks: SF Quentin Grimes, PF Julius Randle, C Mitchell Robinson, PG Kemba Walker, SG Evan Fournier

Heat

Points: Jimmy Butler 21.8

Assists: Kyle Lowry 7.9

Rebounds: Bam Adebayo 10.2

Steals: Jimmy Butler 1.8

Blocks: Bam Adebayo 0.7

Knicks

Points: Julius Randle 19.8

Assists: Julius Randle 5.2

Rebounds: Julius Randle 10.2

Steals: Nerlens Noel 1.2

Blocks: Mitchell Robinson 1.7

Heat: Erik Spoelstra

Knicks: Tom Thibodeau