NEW YORK _ It was a night when the game almost came off as afterthought, even though it had needed meaning for a Miami Heat team able to again climb back to .500.
At the outset, the buzz was about Dwyane Wade's penultimate appearance at Madison Square Garden.
There also was the drama of former New York Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony sitting near the Heat bench to root on his friend and fellow partner from the 2003 NBA draft.
And then there was silence ... with Heat forward Derrick Jones Jr. lost for the night and likely far longer, with a knee injury sustained early in the second quarter.
Through it all, there was a 106-97 victory over the Knicks sparked by a pair of late Wayne Ellington 3-pointers that lifted the Heat to 24-24, with Ellington scoring all 19 of his points in the second half.
With solid contributions from Wade, Ellington, James Johnson, Kelly Olynyk and Hassan Whiteside, and lockdown third-quarter defense that limited the Knicks to 12 points in that period, the Heat came away with something less than a feel-good victory.
After the Heat moved to a 13-point third-quarter lead, Knicks tied it 90-90 on a 3-pointer by Tim Hardaway Jr., before Whiteside scored inside to give the Heat a 92-90 lead with 3:12 to play. An Ellington transition layup followed for a 94-90 Heat lead with 2:14 left.
Hardaway, up to 20 points by that stage, then was fouled with 2:06 left, drawing the Knicks within 94-92.
Ellington, a surprise starter, then connected on a 3-pointer for a 97-92 Heat lead, with another following for a 100-92 lead, effectively ending it.
With two days off before Wednesday's game against the Chicago Bulls at AmericanAirlines Arena, there should be time to yet again reset the rotation, as a more definitive update is secured regarding Jones.
