MIAMI (AP) - The Heat took advantage of a third-quarter stoppage in play Wednesday to show a video montage of highlights from Chris Bosh’s years with the team, including his championship moments.
It fired up the crowd.
Seemed to fire up the Heat, too.
With Bosh and his family watching from courtside, Hassan Whiteside scored 22 points and grabbed 14 rebounds, Josh Richardson added 21 points and Miami scored 45 points in the third quarter to fuel what became an easy 110-87 win over former Heat assistant David Fizdale and the New York Knicks.
“Kind of a weird night,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “I love Fiz and I love CB.”
That was on full display afterward. After the final horn, Fizdale lingered on the court and hugged several Heat coaches and players, with Dwyane Wade getting the last of those embraces. Wade presented Fizdale with one of his jerseys, leading to yet another hug between them. Meanwhile, Bosh had sauntered onto the court at that point, and Spoelstra grabbed him in a bear hug and lifted him off the ground.
Just like old times, sort of.
“It’s always special that you’ve got people who care about you, that you’ve invested a lot in and they’ve invested a lot in you,” Fizdale said. “I told Spo when we met at half-court, ’That’s no way to treat a friend. When I come to your house, you’re not supposed to beat me like that.’”
Spoelstra knows Fizdale doesn’t believe that.
“He would do the same to me,” Spoelstra said.
They would compete against each other in anything and everything when they worked together in Miami, even racing to see who could get to the door first. There wasn’t much competition on Wednesday, as the Heat outscored the Knicks 76-38 in the middle two quarters.
Rodney McGruder added 19 points on only eight shot attempts and Goran Dragic scored 13 points for the Heat. Miami’s 45-point third tied the third-highest scoring period in franchise history, sparked by going 8 of 10 from 3-point range.
“We stepped on them and never looked back,” McGruder said.
Damyean Dotson scored 20 for New York, which got 14 from Tim Hardaway Jr. and 13 from Mario Hezonja. The Knicks were outscored 24-0 from 3-point range in that pivotal third quarter, missing all eight of their tries from beyond the arc.
The 23-point margin of victory was Miami’s fifth-largest ever against New York.
The only good stretch for New York all night was late in the first quarter. The Knicks outscored Miami 14-0 in the final 2:33 of the quarter, a run sparked by back-to-back 3s by Hezonja and Dotson.
That put New York up 27-16 after the first. After that, it was all Heat for much of the rest of the night.
TIP-INS
Knicks: New York didn’t make a free throw until early in the third quarter. The Knicks were 0 for 2 from the line in the first half. … Emmanuel Mudiay (ankle) remained sidelined, and has yet to make his 2018-19 debut. Courtney Lee (neck spasms) was also out. He missed six games last season; he’s missed five already this season.
Heat: Duncan Robinson, whose college career started at Division III Williams before he wound up at Michigan, got his first NBA minutes - and made his first shot, a 3-pointer. … Miami has trailed by double digits in three of its first four games. The lone exception was last week’s win at Washington, where the biggest deficit the Heat faced was nine points. … The Heat outscored the Knicks by 25 points in the third, matching the sixth-best score differential in a quarter in franchise history.
BANNER RETURNS
Plenty of Heat greats were there. Tim Hardaway Sr., the father of the Knicks guard and one of three players to have his Heat jersey number swaying from the rafters in Miami, was at the game. So was Bosh and Jason Williams, the point guard from Miami’s 2006 champions.
GAME 2
Ashley Moyer-Gleich was one of the officials assigned to the game by the NBA. It was the second regular-season game for Gleich, who remains a non-staff official. She and fellow non-staff official Natalie Sago made their debuts on Monday.
UP NEXT
Knicks: Host Golden State on Friday.
Heat: Host Portland on Saturday.
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