Heat–Knicks rivalry

Heat–Knicks rivalry
	Miami Heat New York Knicks
First meeting	March 2, 1989; Knicks 132, Heat 123
Latest meeting	April 2, 2024 ; Heat 109, Knicks 99
Next meeting	TBA
Statistics
Meetings total	172
All-time series	86–85 (NYK)
Regular season series	71–66 (NYK)
Postseason results	19–16 (MIA)
Longest win streak	NYK W10
Current win streak	MIA W1
Postseason history
	1997 Eastern Conference Semifinals: Heat won, 4–3; 1998 Eastern Conference First Round: Knicks won, 3–2; 1999 Eastern Conference First Round: Knicks won, 3–2; 2000 Eastern Conference Semifinals: Knicks won, 4–3; 2012 Eastern Conference First Round: Heat won, 4–1; 2023 Eastern Conference Semifinals: Heat won, 4–2;

The Heat–Knicks rivalry is a National Basketball Association (NBA) rivalry between the Miami Heat and New York Knicks. During the late 1990s and early 2000s, the two teams met in the NBA playoffs four years in a row from 1997–2000, 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.

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