Surging Heat takes momentum into critical In-Season Tournament game vs. Knicks. What’s at stake?

Must-win games in the NBA are reserved for the final days of the regular season or the playoffs. But just four weeks into the regular season, teams are already playing important games with championship implications.

In-Season Tournament championship implications.

The Heat enters its third of four group play games on Friday against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden (7:30 p.m., ESPN and Bally Sports Sun) with a 2-0 record during the group stage.

Heat routs Cleveland behind big night from Lowry. Takeaways and details

Friday’s matchup against the Knicks isn’t technically a must-win for the Heat to advance past the group stage, but moving to 3-0 in group play would keep Miami in control of its own in-season tournament destiny.

Good thing for the Heat, it enters Friday’s game in New York with plenty of momentum at 10-5 after dominating the Cleveland Cavaliers 129-96 on Wednesday night at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse despite missing three key rotation players in starting center Bam Adebayo (left hip contusion), starting guard Tyler Herro (right ankle sprain) and backup center Kevin Love (personal reasons). The Heat improved to 2-1 on its current five-game trip and has won nine of its last 10 games after a 1-4 start to the season.

The 33-point victory in Cleveland is the Heat’s second-largest road win in franchise history, topped only by a 34-point victory (107-73) in Atlanta on Jan. 1, 2003.

The Heat also tied another franchise record in Wednesday’s win, as eight players finished with double-digit points: Kyle Lowry (28 points), Jaime Jaquez Jr. (22 points), Orlando Robinson (14 points), Caleb Martin (14 points), Josh Richardson (14 points), Jimmy Butler (10 points), Haywood Highsmith (10 points) and Thomas Bryant (10 points).

“It’s like a next-man-up mentality,” Jaquez said following Wednesday’s victory in Cleveland. “We have a soldier go down, we got one to fill their place and do what we can to win. I thought we shared the ball really well tonight, had a lot of great shots and it showed. Our defense was incredible. Really pressured the ball, got a lot of steals and got out in transition.”

On Friday against the Knicks, the Heat will look to earn another win and take another step forward in the In-Season Tournament. The winner of each of the six five-team groups and two wild cards (the team from each conference with the best record in group play that finished second in its group) will advance to the knockout quarterfinal round of the tourney.

The Heat was randomly drawn into a five-team group that also includes the Knicks, Milwaukee Bucks, Charlotte Hornets and Washington Wizards for the In-Season Tournament.

The current standings: 1. Bucks (2-0), 2. Heat (2-0), 3. Knicks (1-1), 4. Charlotte Hornets (1-2), 5. Washington Wizards (0-3).

The Wizards are the only team in the group that has already been eliminated from the race to make the quarterfinals.

The Bucks are in first place despite holding the same record as the Heat because it holds a point differential advantage over the Heat. Milwaukee owns a point differential of plus-36 to Miami’s point differential of plus-13.

The Heat has already defeated the Hornets and Wizards in group play ahead of Friday’s matchup against the Knicks in New York. The Heat’s fourth and final game of the group stage is Tuesday against the Bucks at Kaseya Center in a contest that will help determine which team wins the group regardless of the outcome of Friday’s showdown at Madison Square Garden.

So what’s at stake on Friday?

With a Heat win over the Knicks, the Knicks would be eliminated from contention to win the group and the Heat would just need to defeat the Bucks at home on Tuesday in its final group play game to win the group and advance to the quarterfinals. A victory on Friday would also put the Heat in good position to potentially claim the Eastern Conference wild card even if it lost its final game of the group stage.

With a Heat loss to the Knicks, the Heat would need to defeat the Bucks on Tuesday just to have a chance to win the group or possibly claim the wildcard. But in this scenario, the Heat’s In-Season Tournament fate will likely be determined by tiebreakers even if it won on Tuesday.

With four teams, including the Heat, technically still alive to win this group, here are the other three teams’ remaining schedules during this stage of the tournament:

Bucks: vs. Wizards on Friday and at Heat on Tuesday.

Knicks: vs. Heat on Friday and vs. Hornets on Tuesday.

Hornets: at Knicks on Tuesday.

If two or more teams are tied within a group, the tie among the teams will be broken according to the following tiebreakers (in sequential order): head-to-head record in group play, point differential in group play, total points scored in group play, regular-season record from last regular season and random drawing.

If two or more teams are tied for the wild card in a conference, the tie among the teams will be broken following the same tiebreaker protocol, with the exception of the head-to-head record in group play. Ties within groups will be broken before the calculation of wild card tiebreakers.

The knockout rounds will consist of single-elimination games for the eight teams that advance from group play, starting with the quarterfinals on Dec. 4-5 played in NBA markets. The four teams that win quarterfinal games advance to the neutral-site semifinals on Dec. 7 and then two teams will play in the championship game on Dec. 9.

The semifinals and championship game of the event will be played at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

And while the NBA championship that will be awarded in June remains the ultimate prize, money and pride are on the line in the coming days and weeks.

In addition to the new NBA Cup that will be given to the In-Season Tournament’s winning team, players on the tourney’s championship team will get $500,000 each.

Also, players on the team that loses in the championship will get $200,000 each, players on the team that loses in the semifinals will get $100,000 each and players on the team that loses in the quarterfinals will get $50,000 each.

The 22 teams not advancing to the quarterfinals will play two regular-season games on Dec. 6 and 8 against opponents still to be determined to fill the missing two games in its standard 82-game schedule. The four teams that lose in the quarterfinals will play a regular-season game against an opponent still to be determined on Dec. 8 to complete its 82-game schedule.

Every game in the NBA’s In-Season Tournament will count toward regular-season stats and standings, except the championship game in Las Vegas on Dec. 9. The two teams that advance to the championship game will play 83 games during the regular season, which is why the In-Season Tournament final does not count toward the regular season.

Because of the uncertainty surrounding which teams will advance past the group stage, each team currently only has 80 of its 82 regular-season currently scheduled — 76 non-In-Season Tournament regular-season games and four In-Season Tournament group play games.

“We’re open to all of this,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said of the In-Season Tournament. “I think it’s good for the league, I think it’s good for the teams, the players. It keeps things interesting. Anything that sparks competition, I think is a great thing. And it sure would be a lot of fun to be able to get two more wins and get to the quarterfinals. Ultimately, every competitor in this league, whatever they think or say, you would want to be in Vegas to play for this.”

INJURY REPORT

The Heat ruled out Tyler Herro (right ankle sprain), Dru Smith (right knee injury), Nikola Jovic (G League assignment), Orlando Robinson (G League assignment) and R.J. Hampton (right knee sprain) for Friday’s game in New York.

Heat starters Bam Adebayo (left hip contusion) and Duncan Robinson (right thumb sprain) are listed as questionable.

Smith, who injured his right knee during the first half of Wednesday’s win in Cleveland, will undergo an MRI on Friday.

Heat veteran Kevin Love, who missed Wednesday’s game because of personal reasons, re-joined the team and is expected to be available against the Knicks.

Heat two-way contract forwards Jamal Cain and Cole Swider also re-joined the Heat on Thursday after spending time in the G League and are expected to be available for Friday’s game.