New York Knicks Go Cold vs. Miami Heat, Los 3rd Straight

The New York Knicks looked to be in playoff form on Tuesday at Kaseya Center ... albeit the edition that dropped a six-game series to the hosting Miami Heat.

It was anything but fun in the sun for the Knicks on Tuesday night, as New York dropped a 109-99 decision to the Heat. Combined with their holiday weekend losses to San Antonio and Oklahoma City, the Knicks (44-31) have now lost three games in a row for the first time in the post-All-Star break slate. New York also missed out on a chance to earn its first outright sweep of Miami in a regular season series since 1992-93.

Donte DiVincenzo scored 31 points on 11-of-21 from the field (6-of-15 from three-point range) in defeat to lead New York in scoring while Jalen Brunson, fresh off the Eastern Conference's Player of the Month Award had a 20-point, 10-assist double-double.

But that wasn't enough to withstand an offensive barrage from Miami's newest weapon: Terry Rozier's finest scoring effort since joining the Heat at the trade deadline stung the Knicks, as he put up 34 with an 8-of-11 mark from three-point range. Miami (42-33) carried a consistent lead that peaked at 16 and also enjoyed a 17-point outing from Jimmy Butler.

Falling to the Play-In Tournament is suddenly a legitimate concern for the Knicks, who now sit only two games above seventh-place Miami. New York also fell back to fifth on the Eastern bracket thanks to their lost tiebreaker with the Orlando Magic. The Heat are also a half-game behind Indiana for the sixth and final automatic seed.

The Knicks tried to live up to their reputation as a never-say-die comeback group, falling behind by as much as 16 before a second half surge partly spearheaded by an emergence off the bench for Bojan Bogdanovic: the Knicks' newest entry had 16 points and six rebounds in 19 minutes of relief, posting perhaps his finest performance since coming over from Detroit in a February trade. Equally uplifting for 24 points for Miles McBride, who recorded at least 20 for the fourth time over the past nine games while contributing to a stifling defensive effort beyond Rozier that forced 17 turnovers.

But even with Mitchell Robinson back from injury, the Knicks surprisingly struggled in the rebounding game, outboarded 39-30 to lose the interior battle for just the 15th time this season. New York is 3-12 on such occasions, and that number drops to 0-9 when they're outrebounded by at least six. Haywood Highsmith proved particularly deadly, as he pulled in four offensive rebounds off the bench

Despite Rozier's breakout and the boredom on the boards, the Knicks still had a chance to win, whittling a 10-point deficit to a tie just after the four-minute mark. DiVincenzo had 19 points on 7-of-12 from the field over the latter 24 minutes and a 12-0 run in the middle stages of the final period created a 92-all tie that sent a sizable Knicks contingent gathered at Kaseya Center into a frenzy.

Momentum, alas for New York, was gone as soon as it came: after the Precious Achiuwa tip-in knotted things up: Highsmith sank a triple of his own on the other end of an assist from Rozier, kickstarting a 10-2 run where the Knicks' only counter was a Bogdanovic double on the other end. Brunson narrowed the gap to five in the final minute but things were appropriately capped by Rozier's hand, as his final three-pointer created an insurmountable advantage.

The Knicks will get a chance to end their losing streak at home on Thursday night when they face the Sacramento Kings, their final interconference opponent of the regular season (7:30 p.m. ET, TNT).