From the Frying Pan...

The Knicks head to Miami for a big showdown with the rival Heat. Plus, some injury updates, and more love for two Knick role players.

Good morning. Lot’s to get to today as we enter the final 13 days of the NBA’s regular season.

Game Night

TONIGHT: Knicks at Heat, 7:30 pm, MSG Network

Injury Report: Let me try to sum up what was a busy day of injury news…

• OG Anunoby remains out, but his listed injury has been changed from right elbow injury management to right elbow tendinopathy, aka, tennis elbow.

• According to Woj, the Knicks are keeping OG out so they make sure the injury heals for good, and he doesn’t have any more flair ups. While they won’t rule out a return in the regular season, their priority is squarely on having him ready to go for the playoffs.

• According to Shams, Anunoby is more likely to return before Randle, whose status remains unchanged (controlled contact).

• Mitch is once again listed as questionable.

For Miami, Tyler Herro and Josh Richardson are out, while Nikola Jovic (knee), Caleb Martin (ankle), Duncan Robinson (back) and Terry Rozier (knee) are probable.

Halftime Zoom: Let’s get back on the winning track. Here’s the link.

What to watch for: A win, hopefully. A three-game losing streak at this time of year would sting, even if the Knicks remain in good position for a top-five seed. Miami has been thoroughly unimpressive, but they’re 11-8 since the All-Star break with the 8th best net rating in the NBA. This will be a close game down the stretch. You know and I know it.

I-Hart & Deuce, Part Deux

Two weeks ago, following New York’s impressive win over the Golden State Warriors, I used a newsletter to spotlight the contributions of two unsung Knicks who had been helping to hold down the fort. It was a fun newsletter to write after a win.

Today’s edition was decidedly less enjoyable. For as hard as this team continues to fight and for as much as they have collectively overcome, I can’t remember a more crushing set of losses during a single weekend. I can only imagine how the guys in the locker room are feeling.

But that’s part of being a professional athlete, and why it’s probably best that the guys wearing the uniforms don’t have the same temperament as us fans.

More importantly, this group should have the confidence that what they’re doing is working.

Shocking as it may seem, the current starting five has now played the fourth most minutes of any five-man unit this season, and the results in that time have been, well…they’ve been pretty darn good:

That net rating isn’t a misprint. Plus-35.6 points per 100 possessions is what you’d get if you combined the ‘96 Bulls with the ‘17 Warriors, albeit with a slightly smaller sample size.

The offensive number is, obviously, not sustainable. The gap between their 65.5 effective field goal percentage and that of the league-leading Celtics (57.8) is larger than the gap between Boston and the last place Blazers (50.8).

But even if that number starts regressing by a healthy degree, the bones are there for an incredibly solid two-way unit, to the point that we might not want to count out this version of the roster even if they don’t get their injured guys back soon.

(I’ll kindly ignore the continued issues of the bench, which is now the equivalent of a rat turd atop a perfectly cooked porterhouse from Peter Luger)

Some of the contributors have gotten a season’s worth of praise, what with Jalen Brunson’s bid for a spot on the MVP ballot, Donte DiVincenzo’s record-breaking marksmanship, and Josh Hart playing more minutes than anyone since the last guy Tom Thibodeau had an unhealthy obsession with:

Comparatively speaking, Deuce McBride and Isaiah Hartenstein have continued to fly under the radar, even if they get plenty of love from the die hards.

So what’s a second newsletter in just under two weeks?