Heat hold off Knicks 109-101 in Game 4 for 3-1 series lead

Max Strus scored 16 points, Kyle Lowry added 15 and Caleb Martin had 10 for the Heat. Miami, the No. 8 seed, leads the East semifinal series 3-1, with Game 5 — and the first potential clincher — awaiting in New York on Wednesday night.

Jalen Brunson finished with 32 points and 11 assists for fifth-seeded New York, while RJ Barrett had 24 points and Julius Randle scored 20 for the Knicks before fouling out with about three minutes left.

Miami missed 12 of its first 15 shots of the fourth quarter, but the Knicks didn’t take full advantage — trimming only three points off the Heat lead in that span. It was nine entering the fourth, and a pair of free throws by Brunson with 4:40 left got New York within 99-93.

But a slam by Martin breathed some life into an antsy building, and the roars got a bit louder about a minute later. With the Knicks down seven, Randle went into the lane — but Strus beat him to the spot, drawing contact that became the New York star’s sixth foul with 3:08 left, and the Heat held control the rest of the way.

The Knicks never led in Game 3, then held the lead twice in Game 4.

They had a pair of one-point leads in the opening quarter, for a combined 33 seconds, and with Miami erasing the deficits with immediate baskets on its next possession.

But unlike Game 3, when Miami’s lead was double digits for nearly the entirety of the final three quarters, this one remained in some doubt much of the way. Miami didn’t get its first 10-point lead until a 3-pointer by Strus with 3:23 left in the half, and whenever the Heat seemed poised to pull away New York had an answer.

The Knicks cut what was an 11-point deficit down to 67-65 on a 3-pointer by Barrett with 7:07 left in the third, but never got all the way over the hump. An 8-1 spurt over a two-minute stretch late in the third restored the 11-point lead, and Miami’s cushion was 90-81 going into the fourth.

The win was the 103rd playoff victory for Heat coach Erik Spoelstra. He becomes the third coach with that many playoff wins with one team; Gregg Popovich has 170 with San Antonio, and Phil Jackson had 118 with the Los Angeles Lakers and 111 with Chicago.

Pat Riley — the Heat president, Spoelstra’s boss and his predecessor as Heat coach — won 102 with the Lakers.

The Heat have a chance to reach the East finals on Wednesday — and so does South Florida’s NHL team. The Florida Panthers lead their second-round series with the Toronto Maple Leafs 3-0, with Game 4 of that matchup in Sunrise, Florida on Wednesday night.