Three things to watch: Miami Heat renew rivalry with New York Knicks

We won’t get P.J. Brown picking up Charlie Ward and tossing him around. We’re not going to get Jeff Van Gundy clinging to Alonzo Mourning’s leg. We’re not going to get roundball rock intros.

Still, there will be echoes of the 1990s Sunday when the Knicks and Heat tip off Game 1 of their second-round series. We should see as grinding, defensive a series as there will be in the 2020s, a series where scores may regularly be below 100. This is old school, with Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau trying to slow down his former star Jimmy Butler, plus two franchises that genuinely hate each other. This is going to be fun.

Here are three things to watch that will decide this showdown between the Miami Heat and New York Knicks.

1) Can Julius Randle play? How mobile is he?

While he is officially “questionable” for Game 1, the Knicks are not going to tell us anything real about Randle’s status until they absolutely have to. And even then, don’t bet on the truth. What we know as of this writing are two things:

• Randle did not go through a full practice on Friday, he did some shooting, some lifting and some pool cardio. Thibodeau said of Randle, “We’re not going to put him in harm’s way.”

• The Knicks will not advance without a strong series from Randle… unless RJ Barrett, Immanuel Quickley and others step up in his place.

Randle put up 43 in one regular season game against the Heat including hitting an insane game-winning 3.

Randle is a tough matchup for Miami, and New York needs him. Randle’s mindset is that he will be out there if he can walk, and even if he misses the first game or two he will play in this series. The questions are how effectively, will he play when he does step on the court, and can the Knicks depth fill in the gaps? Jalen Brunson will get his, but if Randle isn’t dropping 43 then Barrett, Quickley and others need to step up.

Oh, and Jalen Brunson. But at this point, isn’t it almost a given that he is going to be spectacular? We’ve just come to expect it.

2) Can Playoff Jimmy Butler do it again?

Jimmy Butler was the MVP of the first round. It wasn’t even close. He averaged 37.6 points, 4.8 assists and 1.8 steals a game and went through an elite perimeter defender in Jrue Holiday like he wasn’t there. Butler dropped 56 points in Game 4, and when his team needed a bucket to force overtime in Game 5 there was Butler again.

The task of stopping Playoff Butler now falls to Quentin Grimes and Josh Hart, but expect them to bring a lot of help and throw different looks at Butler. The Knicks did a respectable job on Butler in the regular season, but Butler has a couple of gears he saves for the biggest moments.

Look for more doubles and traps to get the ball out of Butler’s hands than Budenholzer and the Bucks used. The strategy is simple — make anyone else on the Heat beat you. Without Tyler Herro (broken hand), Miami’s shot creation outside Butler is limited.

Another question is can the Heat as a team keep shooting like this? They were the lowest-scoring team in the NBA during the regular season (109.5 points per game) and struggled from 3 (34.4% as a team, 27th in the league). Then against the Bucks they shot 45% from 3-point range and Butler knocked down 12 3s on his own. Can Miami keep hitting those shots in Madison Square Garden? They will need to in this series.

3) Bam Adebayo vs. Mitchell Robinson

Mitchell Robinson was the surprise star of the first round, outplaying the Cavaliers’ frontline of Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley. Robinson was a force of nature last series.

This is a tougher matchup stylistically — watch out for a big Bam Adebayo series.

Robinson was a force defensively against the Cavaliers because he could help off Allen and not pay a price against a non-shooter. Adebayo can hit 12- to 15-footers, the kinds of shots the Knicks dared Allen to take. Either Robinson has to stick with Adebayo and open up driving lanes, or we could see a big series for Bam.

The Knicks beat the Cavaliers because of Brunson and owning the paint. The second part of that equation remains key, but the Heat present new challenges.

Prediction: Knicks in 7. This is a toss-up of a series. I know Jimmy Butler and Jalen Brunson will be spectacular, but I’m less convinced that Miami will get the same kind of series out of Gabe Vincent, Caleb Martin, Duncan Robinson and the other role players. If that group proves me wrong, Miami wins. I just trust the Knicks’ depth a little more.

Three things to watch: Miami Heat renew rivalry with New York Knicks originally appeared on NBCSports.com