NEW YORK – Three chances to get one is now down to two chances for the Miami Heat after Wednesday night’s 112-103 loss to the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden.

Their lead in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinal series reduced to 3-2, the Heat were unable to capitalize on their first closeout opportunity on a night their 3-point shooting was off early and an initial double-digit lead turned into a 19-point deficit in the third period.

“Nothing’s easy in the playoffs,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “You have to earn everything. We expected this to be tough.”:

Next up is Friday night’s Game 6 at Kaseya Center, where the Heat are 4-0 in the playoffs.

A loss in that one, and it’s an all-or-nothing Game 7 on Monday night back at Madison Square Garden.

“Protect homecourt at this point,” Heat center Bam Adebayo said. “Protect homecourt. That’s the biggest thing for us.”

A victory Friday, and the Heat move on to the Eastern Conference finals for the third time in four seasons, to play the winner of the Philadelphia 76ers-Boston Celtics series that the 76ers lead 3-2.

“They did their job,” Heat guard Kyle Lowry said. “They protected their homecourt. Now we’ve got to take care of our job Friday.”

While Jalen Brunson controlled the game for the Knicks on the way to 38 points, supported by 26 from R.J. Barrett and 24 from Julius Randle, the Heat were limited to mostly pedestrian efforts.

Jimmy Butler led the Heat with 19 points, with Bam Adebayo scoring 18 and Duncan Robinson 17.

Five Degrees of Heat from Wednesday’s game:

1. Closing time: The Heat led 24-14 at the end of the opening period, after the Knicks shot 6 of 20 in the first quarter. The Knicks then moved to a 50-47 halftime lead.

From there, the Knicks opened the third period with a pair of 3-pointers and extended that run to 22-7 to move up by 18 midway through the third and later to a 19-point lead, before the Heat closed within 84-74 going into the fourth.

“In the second half,” Lowry said, “we didn’t come out with any kind of fire.

The Heat, though, kept chipping away, getting within 103-101 with 2:10 to play after a Butler jumper and free throw.

But that is where the comeback stalled.

“We fought back,” Spoelstra said, “and games are long, but we were never able to fully get over the hump.”

2. Brunson dominant: With no margin for error, Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau played both of his starting guards all 48 minutes, both Brunson and Quentin Grimes.

“These are world-class athletes,” Thibodeau said. “This is how they come up. So if you condition yourself for that workload, you’re gonna be fine.”

Brunson closed 12 of 22 from the field, 10 of 12 from the foul line and 4 of 10 on 3-pointers, with nine rebounds and seven assists.

“He’s clever,” Spoelstra said. “You have to respect him as a competitor.”

Brunson continually probed the Heat defense, often able in the pick-and-roll to call up the Heat’s weaker defenders.

“It’s not like there’s an unknown playbook,” Spoelstra said of such actions. “We can beat their team when they bring their ‘A’ game. We can still find a way to win.”

3. Butler uneven: Butler again offered solid two-way play, including meeting Brunson at the rim for a second-period blocked shot. He was up to 12 points by the intermission.

But there were only two points in the third period from Butler, who appeared to lack some of his typical vigor.

From there, Spoelstra made the rare decision to have Butler in for the start of the fourth quarter, instead of affording his typical rest.

“I did have an inclination to maybe get him out at some point,” Spoelstra said. “But I think in that fourth I just wanted to see if we could take the lead and see if that momentum could change.”

Butler played the entire second half.

“I’m not surprised with anything come playoff time,” Butler said.

It was Butler’s lowest-scoring game of the playoffs.

“I’m not a scorer, anyways,” he said. “I had 19. That’s enough for us to win.”

4. The key numbers: As often has been the case in the series, rebounds and loose balls told the story.

This time the Knicks outrebounded the Heat 50-34,

“The deciding factor was ball in the air, ball on the floor,” Adebayo said.

Spoelstra agreed.

“They beat us to the ball and were more aggressive,” he said. “The game usually rewards the aggressors.”

Butler said it was typical of a team with no margin for error.

“They did what they were supposed to do,” Butler said. “They played desperate, they played hard.”

5. Uneven with 3s: At the bottom of the league in 3-point shooting during the regular season and then revived in their first-round upset of the top-seeded Milwaukee Bucks, the Heat entered at .314 on 3-pointers in the series and promptly opened 3 of 22.

Two of those three 3-pointers came early, from Max Strus, the other from Robinson.

Unable to create needed spacing early, it allowed the Knicks to further collapse defensively against Butler and Adebayo.

The Heat stood 8 of 31 on 3-pointers entering the fourth quarter.

From there, though, Robinson led a revival, to help keep the Heat afloat to the finish.

Robinson closed 5 of 10 on 3-pointers, the Heat 13 of 43.

“There were a bunch of wide-open ones,” Spoelstra said of his team’s misses. “Would that have changed things if we knocked down some of those wide-open looks? It could have.”