Heat–Knicks rivalry
Miami Heat
New York Knicks
| |
| First meeting | March 2, 1989 Knicks 132, Heat 123 |
|---|---|
| Latest meeting | March 17, 2025 Heat 95, Knicks 116 |
| Statistics | |
| Meetings total | 175 |
| All-time series | 90–85 (NYK) |
| Regular season series | 74–66 (NYK) |
| Postseason results | 19–16 (MIA) |
| Longest win streak | NYK W10 |
| Current win streak | NYK W3 |
| Postseason history | |
| |
The Heat–Knicks rivalry is a National Basketball Association (NBA) rivalry between the Miami Heat and the New York Knicks. During the late 1990s and early 2000s, the two teams met in the NBA playoffs four years in a row from 1997 to 2000, with the Knicks winning three of those series and the Heat winning one. The teams most recently met in the Eastern Conference Semifinals of the 2023 NBA playoffs, which the Heat won in six games.
The Heat–Knicks rivalry was one of the fiercest in the NBA, and Sports Illustrated considered it the third-best NBA rivalry. Prior to the 1997 NBA playoffs, no two NBA teams had ever met in the playoffs for four consecutive seasons, with each series going to the maximum possible number of games. The aggressive nature of those four series, defensive struggles marked by numerous foul calls, and intensely physical play, can be traced to the highly defensive style of Pat Riley, former coach of both teams and the rivalry's central figure. This 1990s rivalry created some of the most highly anticipated matchups during its short-lived tenure.