The New York Knicks and Miami Heat hatred goes all the way back to Pat Riley ditching the big apple for South Beach in 1995. The teams have met in the playoffs six times, including four straight years from 1997-2000. The longtime rivals most recently met in the Eastern Conference Semifinals in 2023, where the Heat won in six games during Jalen Brunson’s maiden season in orange and blue.
That Miami team, like every one since 2008, was guided by head coach Erik Spoelstra, who is widely considered the best coach in the business. The 55-year-old has led Miami to two NBA championships, is the longest tenured head coach in the league and is the newly minted coach of the USA Basketball men’s national team.
There Is No Love Lost Between The Knicks And Heat
Spoelstra’s team lost to the Knicks 132-125 in their fourth and final meeting of the regular season. Jalen Brunson continued his MVP caliber campaign with a Madison Square Garden career-high 47 points. What was even more notable, however, were the words spoken by Spoelstra after the contest.
“What you have to respect about the Knicks, you have to put them away every single possession. You can’t leave anything to effing chance with that team ever,” said the 17th coach to eclipse the 800-win milestone. “That’s what they do. What they have is a will to win, all right. That’s what we are developing and we are going to get there.”
Dec 9, 2025; Orlando, Florida, USA; Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra looks on during the second quarter against the Orlando Magic at Kia Center. Mandatory Credit: Mike Watters-Imagn Images | Mike Watters-Imagn Images
For the better part of two decades, all the Knicks did was find ways to lose. From the 2001-02 season through 2019-20 New York had a 595-931 record, good for the lowest winning percentage of any team in the NBA across that span. They lost more games over the first twenty years of the 21st century than any other franchise.
New York was 18-42 on the day Leon Rose was hired as the team’s president during the home stretch of the 2019-20 season. The starting lineup was Elfrid Payton, Taj Gibson, Maurice Harkless, Julius Randle and RJ Barrett. The Knicks were a rudderless franchise with no direction.
Leon Rose Has Brought Much Needed Stability And Direction
Since 2020-21, the Knicks have a regular season record of 246-182. They have made the playoffs four times over the past five seasons, including winning at least a round in the postseason three straight years.
In an era where teams have rebuilt through tanking and high draft picks, the Knicks resurgence hasn’t been built by a homegrown star, but rather by meticulous trading and under-the-radar free-agent signings.
This season, the Knicks are 20-9, a 59-win pace. We are starting to see the vision of what Rose had in mind when he acquired Josh Hart at the 2023 trade deadline, flipped Barrett and Immanuel Quickley for OG Anunoby, offloaded a bundle of draft picks to Brooklyn for Mikal Bridges, and moved on from Randle for Karl-Anthony Towns.
The Knicks have gradually made the climb from laughingstock to annual playoff participant to the current betting favorite to win the Eastern Conference. They have come such a long way in a few years that even their enemies are giving them their flowers.