Make room, 1999 Knicks, you have company.
With their Monday night defeat of the Boston Celtics, the 2023 Miami Heat became the second team in NBA history to make the finals after entering the postseason as a No. 8 seed, joining the ’99 Knicks.
But which team’s run is more remarkable? Let’s compare.
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The Knicks’ 1998-99 regular season
A lockout-shortened regular season saw New York go 27-23 in their third season under coach Jeff Van Gundy. After four straight years of losing in the Eastern Conference semifinals, the franchise acquired Latrell Sprewell, Marcus Camby, Kurt Thomas and Dennis Scott to complement New York’s core of Patrick Ewing, Allan Houston and Larry Johnson.
Ewing led the team with 17.6 points per game, but the 36-year-old missed time with a knee injury and only played 38 games. Sprewell, who was acquired by the Knicks after he had been suspended 67 games the previous season for choking coach P.J. Carlesimo, was second on the team in scoring but also missed time with a stress fracture.
The team was never more than five games over .500, and on April 23, two weeks before the playoffs, the Knicks sat at 21-21. They’d close the season winning six of their final eight games to snag the No. 8 seed by one game over the Hornets.
The Heat’s 2022-23 regular season
After coming up just short of making the NBA Finals in 2021-22, the Heat opened 2022-23 sluggish and uninspired. They started the campaign 11-14 and didn’t break .500 until Dec. 28.
The team returned much of its core from its previous playoff runs, but a slip in Kyle Lowry’s production forced coach Erik Spoelstra to shuffle his starting lineup. Jimmy Butler once again led the Heat in scoring with 22.9 points per game, the second-highest mark of his career, and reigning Sixth Man of the Year Tyler Herro averaged more than 20 points for the second straight year. Bam Adebayo averaged more than 20 points per game for the first time in his career.
The team’s most significant in-season move was signing Kevin Love after his buyout from Cleveland. The five-time All-Star had only played sparingly with the Cavs and would make 21 regular-season appearances for Miami, averaging 7.7 points and 5.7 rebounds per game.
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The Knicks’ playoff run
New York upset top seed Miami in five games in the first round then swept Atlanta in the semifinals to become the first No. 8 seed to ever make the conference finals. The Knicks upset the Pacers in six games to make the finals, where they lost to the Spurs in five games.
Ewing suffered a partially torn Achilles tendon in Game 2 of the conference finals and missed the rest of the playoffs. Sprewell led all Knicks with 20.8 points per game in the postseason.
In a highlight that has been etched into Knicks history, the Knicks won the decisive Game 5 of the first round on a last-second jumper from Houston.
On this day in Knicks History (1999), with :00.8 seconds left, @allan_houston hit the iconic running one-hander, that gave the Knicks a series-clinching 78-77 victory over the Miami Heat in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference 1st Round. pic.twitter.com/IWpWNaLMsx
— NEW YORK KNICKS (@nyknicks) May 16, 2019
The Heat’s playoff run
After losing their first Play-In game to Atlanta, the Heat had to defeat Chicago to even make the playoffs. Once in, they put the league on notice with a five-game takedown of Milwaukee, then made easy work of New York to advance to their third conference finals in four seasons.
There, they shocked the No. 2 seed Celtics by taking both games in Boston and Game 3 in Miami to go up 3-0. Boston wrestled back the series with victories in Games 4 and 5 before a game-winning Derrick White putback stole Game 6 for the Celtics to set up what could have been the first 3-0 series comeback in NBA history.
In Game 7, however, the Heat had other ideas, blitzing Boston with blistering shooting and holding the Celtics offense to just 84 points. Undrafted reserve forward Caleb Martin, who had never averaged more than 9.6 points per game in a season, averaged 19.3 points in the series and tallied 26 in Game 7.
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Knicks regular-season stats
Offense:
- Points per game: 86.4 (26th in league, 5.2 fewer than league average)
- Assists per game: 19.3 (24th in league, 1.4 fewer than league average)
- Rebounds per game: 41.2 (17th in league, 0.5 fewer than league average)
- Field goal percentage: 43.5 percent (17th in league, 0.2 percent below league average)
Defense:
- Points allowed per game: 85.4 (4th in league, 6.2 better than league average)
- Blocks per game: 5.2 (14th in league, 0.2 more than league average)
- Steals per game: 7.9 (20th in league, 0.5 fewer than league average)
- Field goal percentage against: 40.3 percent (2nd in league, 3.4 percent better than league average)
Heat regular-season stats
Offense:
- Points per game: 109.5 (30th in league, 5.2 fewer than league average)
- Assists per game: 23.8 (25th in league, 1.5 fewer than league average)
- Rebounds per game: 40.6 (27th in league, 2.8 fewer than league average)
- Field goal percentage: 46.0 percent (26th in league, 1.5 percent below league average)
Defense:
- Points allowed per game: 109.8 (2nd in league, 4.9 better than league average)
- Blocks per game: 3.0 (30th in league, 1.7 fewer than league average)
- Steals per game: 8.0 (6th in league, 0.7 more than league average)
- Field goal percentage against: 48.2 percent (22nd in league, 0.7 percent worse than league average)
Star power
The ’99 Knicks were led by four All-Stars (Ewing, Houston, Johnson and Sprewell), all of whom were under 30 aside from Ewing, who was two years removed from his most recent selection. Houston and Sprewell would both go on to wear Knicks jerseys in the 2001 All-Star Game, while Marcus Camby would go on to make four All-Defensive teams later in his career.
The 1999 All-Star game was cancelled due to the lockout, and no Knicks players made an All-NBA team after the season.
The ’23 Heat maintained much of its same roster for the fourth consecutive season. Butler made his fifth All-NBA team after the season, and Herro, the 2021-22 Sixth Man of the Year, averaged 20 points for the second straight year. Adebayo was the team’s lone All-Star selection, averaged a career-high 20.4 points per game and was selected to his fourth consecutive All-Defensive team after the season.
So who was better?
Both teams profile shockingly similar: Defensively stout, veteran-led squads that struggled offensively in the regular season before finding their groove in the postseason. Each lost a key mainstay to a serious injury in the playoffs, then watched veteran players rise to the occasion.
Did each benefit from helpful factors, like Michael Jordan’s retirement or Giannis Antetokounmpo’s injury? Sure. Did both plow through perennial contenders, like Reggie Miller’s Pacers or Jayson Tatum’s Celtics? Undoubtedly.
The judgement on which team’s run is more impressive is up to you, but both runs are undeniably remarkable.
Required reading
- Hollinger: NBA Finals are better than you think, and why I’m picking the Nuggets to win
- NBA Finals business tale of the tape: How the Heat and Nuggets compare
(Top photo: Issac Baldizon / NBAE via Getty Images)
