Heat show Knicks how to run up-tempo offense and win

Dwyane Wade was back and so were the Heat.

After a few games of the LeBron James show with the pace slowed (while Wade recovered from a sprained ankle), the Miami Heat with Wade returned to their high-pressure, up-tempo style of play — you know, kind of like Mike D’Antoni was brought in to run in New York but never given the parts to execute. It wasn’t a perfect game from Miami, but when everything was on the line in the fourth the Heat overwhelmed the Knicks and ran away to a 99-89 win.

Wade looked rested and about as healthy as can be, with 28 points on 19 shots. The Heat were back to being a highlight reel for a night, with just a bunch of ridiculous dunks.

But that’s not won them the game. It was their defense.

The Heat were a pressure defense again and forced 19 Knicks turnovers — that was nearly one in five trips down the court for New York. And a lot of those turnovers became runouts for the Heat and big dunks. Miami is too good to give them a bunch of easy baskets and expect to win.

The other thing the Heat defense did was take away good looks going toward the basket for the Knicks — without Carmelo Anthony or a point guard who can create for others, the Knicks were relegated to launching threes.

Which they did with reckless abandon taking 43, but making 18 (41.9 percent). That is what kept them in the game.

But you live by the three, you die by it. In fourth, Heat focused on chasing everyone off the arc and make them put it on the floor or contesting the shot. The Knicks still hit 3 of the 8 they took that quarter, but they also turned the ball over and that led to runouts and… well, we’ve already covered that.

Give the Knicks credit, they gave a spirited effort. They hustled, they defended moderately well, they tried hard at what they thought would work. D’Antoni said he would stretch the floor with Carmelo out, and while this may have been the extreme of what he meant it kept New York in the game. Bill Walker was 7-10 from three for 21 points, Toney Douglas added 16.

But the Knicks don’t have the players to run D’Antoni’s system the way it was designed (that problem only gets worse with ‘Melo in the lineup). The Heat do. When the tempo gets up the more athletic team wins, and that was the Heat in this one. Handily.

And they put on a show in the process.