Heat ready for another important game vs. Knicks with ‘consequences.’ Also, Zeller remains out

All the Miami Heat has left on its schedule are important games because of its position in the playoff race.

But this week’s two-game homestand has some extra meaning because it comes against the two teams immediately ahead of the seventh-place Heat in the Eastern Conference standings. The late-season homestand begins Wednesday against the fifth-place New York Knicks (7:30 p.m., Bally Sports Sun) and ends Saturday against the sixth-place Brooklyn Nets.

The Heat’s focus during Tuesday’s practice was on preparing for its matchup against the Knicks, including the challenging assignment of defending All-Star forward Julius Randle.

“Randle is having a fantastic year,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “We know that we’re going to have our defense in order the way we’re capable of. It was so competitive our last game here in Miami. It should be a good one [Wednesday] night.”

The last time Randle was in Miami, he totaled 43 points on 16-of-25 shooting from the field and 8-of-13 shooting on threes to lift the Knicks to a 122-120 win over the Heat on March 3. Randle clinched the victory by hitting a game-winning three with 1.7 seconds to play.

Randle’s scoring surge reached a high point on Monday when he recorded a career-high 57 points in a loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves at Madison Square Garden. That performance represents the first 50-point game by a Knicks player since Carmelo Anthony scored 62 points in 2014.

“I wasn’t guarding him last night, so I don’t know what happened,” Heat center Bam Adebayo said Tuesday when asked about Randle’s career-best performance. “But for what he did when he was here, he made tough shots. We’re in the NBA for a reason. The only thing you can do is make guys take tough shots. Sometimes the guys make the tough shots. He did that versus us.”

Randle, 28, is averaging a career-high 25.6 points per game this season.

Adebayo is expected to again be used as Randle’s primary defender on Wednesday. In the teams’ first two matchups of the season, Randle totaled 19 points on 6-of-11 shooting from the field and 4-of-7 shooting from beyond the arc during 41 possessions with Adebayo on him, according to NBA tracking stats.

Heat wing Jimmy Butler is also expected to spend an extended stretch guarding Randle. In the teams’ first two meeting of the season, Randle scored 14 points on 6-of-16 shooting from the field and 2-of-5 shooting from three-point range during 43 possessions with Butler as his primary defender, according to NBA tracking stats.

“There’s no absolutes because they’re also not just a one-player dominant team,” Spoelstra said of defending against Randle and the Knicks’ top-five offense. “[Jalen] Brunson obviously is a big factor, RJ Barrett can go off at any time, and their role players have really fit what they do. So your team defense has to be great. You got to just make it tough on the Knicks on every single possession. They’re going to hit some tough ones and then we got to win a lot more possessions, as well.”

The Knicks have won each of the teams’ first two meetings and can clinch the regular-season series and head-to-head tiebreaker over the Heat with a third win on Wednesday for the first time since the 2016-17 season. The Heat and Knicks will face off for a fourth and final time next week on March 29 in New York.

“These are the kind of challenges our guys typically respond to and it’s always good when there’s some kind of meaning or context or consequences with the Heat-Knicks,” Spoelstra said. “That’s always good for the league and it’s good for the two franchises.”

INJURY REPORT

The Heat will remain without backup center Cody Zeller on Wednesday against the Knicks. It will mark the fifth straight game he has missed since breaking his nose in a March 11 loss to the Magic in Orlando.

Zeller underwent a procedure on his broken nose on Friday and is considered day-to-day.

“The swelling needs to come down,” Spoelstra said Tuesday when asked about Zeller’s status. “I don’t have a timetable on that. He won’t play [Wednesday]. We have a few days before the Brooklyn game [on Saturday], but I think it will be too early to determine. His body will let us know.”

The only other players on the Heat’s injury report are guard Kyle Lowry and forward Caleb Martin, who are both listed as questionable with left knee soreness.

Rookie center Orlando Robinson was back with the Heat for Tuesday’s practice after spending the last week in the G League with the Sioux Falls Skyforce. Robinson is expected to be available for Wednesday’s matchup against the Knicks.