NEW YORK -- How positively un-Knick-like.

It's one thing to beat the Miami Heat, which the New York Knicks hadn't done in several years. It's another thing to beat a LeBron James team, which hadn't been done in even more years. But to do it with a stingy defensive performance against two of the league's top-five scorers, well, it was just a little more than mildly surprising. And impressive.

Calling it a throwback to the Jeff Van Gundy-Pat Riley bloodball days wouldn't quite be accurate, but the Knicks' 93-88 win over the Heat certainly served as an appetizer to what would be a highly entertaining playoff series. With the Heat currently tied for the second seed in the Eastern Conference and the Knicks sitting sixth, it's a plausible scenario.

The game had some flashes of greatness and oddity, including a performance from Dwyane Wade that genuinely ranked as one of the best of his career. That's a striking statement considering he went 0-of-7 shooting, with only one point, in the fourth quarter.

That's an un-Wade-like finish, which fit the character of what happened in front of a delirious crowd at Madison Square Garden.

The run-and-gun, high-scoring, high-possession, talk-about-defense-but-only-sometimes-play-it Knicks won a game in which they shot 36 percent and scored just 93 points. It was easily the fewest points the team has scored in a victory this season. It was also the first time in 10 tries they'd beaten James and in seven attempts they'd beaten Miami.

It happened with Amare Stoudemire -- the resident MVP chant-getter who earlier in the night was named the Knicks' first All-Star Game starter in 14 years -- not making a single basket in the fourth quarter. And the Knicks won that quarter by 14 points when they only shot 31 percent as a team -- all of this from a squad that had lost six of its past seven games.

The only way any of that's possible is with defense. That's what the Knicks accomplished, defending better than at perhaps any time this season. They held the Heat to 15 points in the fourth quarter, limiting Miami to an eye-popping 5-of-21 shooting from the field.

"We played great defensively from the start," said Stoudemire, who still had 24 points and eight rebounds. "Tonight, we put a total 40-minute game together and got the win."

While pondering where the other eight minutes went from Stoudemire's perspective, know that it wasn't simply great man-to-man combat. The Knicks forced the Heat, who are now in a certified slump with losses in five of the past six games, into their worst habits.

Without Chris Bosh, who was back in Miami nursing a bum ankle, the Heat seem to be a very easy team to switch pick-and-rolls against. The Knicks love to do this anyway because, first, it is easier, and, second, they have the athletes to pull it off.

The Atlanta Hawks did this effectively against the Heat last week, when Bosh was also out, because they had no fear of anyone on the front line causing mismatches. The Heat's only big man logging considerable minutes right now is Joel Anthony, and he doesn't concern anyone offensively.

As a result, the Heat found themselves lured into one-on-one situations and playing into the Knicks' hands. That is how Wade -- who had a career high 16 rebounds and at one point made 13 consecutive shots -- and James repeatedly neutralized their talents.

James had 24 points and Wade had 34, but in the second half, they often cut off their teammates by playing isolation ball. Though that was only part of the issue.

Though Wade was sizzling, going 7-of-7 in the third quarter at his customary shooting guard position, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra moved Wade to point guard to start the fourth quarter. It changed his role, mindset and, as it turned out, killed his mojo.

"They bait you into that game, holding the ball," Spoelstra said. "You iso and try to work the mismatches."

The Knicks also benefited from some timely 3-point shooting from Danilo Gallinari, who made two big shots in the fourth. Rookie Landry Fields was also sensational, with 19 points and 13 rebounds, eight of the points and five of the boards coming in the last 12 minutes.

But that wasn't what concerned the Heat as they started a challenging stretch of four games in five nights. They are now 1-8 in games decided by five points or fewer, and it has happened in each of their past three losses. Of course a large percentage of playoff games are decided by such margins.

"It is not concerning because I think we made the right plays down the stretch," James said. "They made some shots that we didn't make."

That is a true assessment. The Heat rationalized that they executed better than in last week's loss to the Hawks, when the pick-and-roll defense had them hoisting up terrible shots. They ran some plays in crunch time, and James Jones and Mario Chalmers both missed wide-open 3-pointers off quality sets.

But somewhere in the middle of the Knicks' winning a highly uncharacteristic game and the Heat letting another completely winnable game get away, both teams knew they were out of their comfort zones.

For the Knicks, that was unexpected but also very good. For the Heat, facing the most adversity since their lackluster November, it is now worrisome.

"We've been here before and this is when I like being around this group the most," Spoelstra said.

"This is also when we've proved to be our best, when we've faced some adversity. We don't like what is going on right now. We'll get better, I'll tell you that. That is the fabric of this team, the more we see situations the better we get."

Dimes past: Jan. 13 | 14 | 15-16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22-23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27

Zach Harper, TrueHoop Network bloggers and fans gave their in-game opinions throughout Thursday's slate of NBA games in Daily Dime Live.