The Knicks mustered just 14 points in the entire first quarter Wednesday night in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference semifinals, leaving them with one foot in their playoff grave.
They responded with 18 points in the next three minutes, a blitz that saved their season, at least for two more days.
Trailing by double-digits, the Knicks seemed destined for a gentleman’s sweep at the hands of Miami, completed on their home floor no less.
But that run to start the second quarter turned their destiny around, and was the key stretch in a 112-103 victory before a sellout crowd of 19,812 at the Garden.
“Just the energy. I think the thing that we’ve been lacking for was the energy, the little things,” Isaiah Hartenstein said. “I think that’s what we kind of brought.”
The Knicks trailed 24-14 after a first quarter in which they shot just 30 percent — and went 2-for-9 from 3-point range — and committed seven turnovers.
But they stormed out of the gate in the second quarter with an 18-2 run that took less than three minutes.
They hit all seven of their shots in the blitz, and forced the Heat to miss five of six.
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After some calls that didn’t go their way in the first quarter, coach Tom Thibodeau was asked what they switched in the second.
“I’d rather not comment on that because I’m afraid I would get fined,” Thibodeau said. “So I’m gonna leave it at that.”
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Obi Toppin gave them a boost early in the run, with a running alley-oop dunk from Jalen Brunson. Toppin also had a couple of rebounds and went out of bounds into the first row of seats to save a loose ball.
Toppin, who’d logged just five minutes in Game 4, usually plays the first six minutes of the second quarter to spell Julius Randle, but Thibodeau used the hot hand and gave him nine minutes.
The move paid off.
“Yeah, I think Obi came in and gave us some energy, man, just getting rebounds, running on the floor, and then we were able to get some transition buckets, which helped us a lot,” said RJ Barrett, who scored eight points during the run. “Then we were just moving the ball and playing good all together. So that was huge. And like I said third quarter was big. … They brought it all the way back to two, but we were able to sustain it.”
Barrett’s running 3-pointer off a Brunson feed capped the run and handed the Knicks a 32-26 lead.
That advantage grew to as large as 19 and they held on to stave off elimination.
