Heat can’t keep up with Pacers in sour home loss
So much has gone right for the Heat in the past six weeks. But so much went wrong for the Heat on Friday.
The Heat (22-20) turned in one of its worst performances of the season in a 137-110 loss to the Indiana Pacers (18-22) at AmericanAirlines Arena. It marked Miami’s second consecutive loss, but just its sixth loss in the past 21 games after a
7-14 start to the season.
Meanwhile, the Pacers are 715 in their past 22 games.
The Pacers controlled play pretty much from start to finish, as the Heat struggled on both ends of the court. Miami’s biggest lead was five and it’s final lead of the game came in the first quarter.
The Pacers led by 22 points early in the fourth quarter, and
the Heat cut the deficit to 13 a few minutes later. But that’s the closest Miami got, as Indiana expanded its lead to 32 late in the game.
The Pacers outscored the Heat 60-27 from three-point range. Indiana tied a franchise record with 20 made threes.
Malcolm Brogden led the Pacers with 27 points on 7-of-9 shooting from deep.
The Heat’s leading duo of Bam Adebayo (20 points, eight rebounds and five assists) and Jimmy Butler (17 points, eight rebounds and four assists) combined for 37 points on 66.7 percent shooting. But the rest of Miami’s roster combined to shoot just 38 percent.
The Heat and Pacers will
meet again Sunday afternoon at AmericanAirlines Arena. Friday was the start of a four-game homestand for the Heat.
Here are five takeaways from the Heat’s loss to the Pacers:
The Heat’s three-point shooting struggles continue to be concerning.
Miami entered with the NBA’s fifth-worst team three-point shooting percentage at 34.7. That’s not good, considering a large chunk — 43.9 percent, to be exact — of the Heat’s shot attempts come from three-point range.
Even during Miami’s current 15-6 stretch that began in early February, the outside shooting has been underwhelming. The Heat has shot just 34 percent on threes during that span.
Miami totaled 110 points on 44.6 percent shooting from the field and 9-of-34 (26.5 percent) shooting on threes Friday. The Heat has shot 25 percent from beyond the arc in the past two games, both losses.
As a result, the Heat entered Friday’s contest with the league’s sixthworst offensive rating for the season.
The Heat, which entered shooting an NBA-best 70.2
percent at the rim this season, wasn’t even efficient from that area Friday. Miami shot just 21 of 37 (56.8 percent) at the rim, with the rim protection of Indiana center Myles Turner making things tough around the basket.
The Heat’s best offense came from the foul line, as it outscored the Pacers 19-13 on free throws.
The Heat’s three-point shooting regression has been hard to explain. Miami returned most of last season’s roster, which finished last regular season with the NBA’s secondbest three-point percentage at 37.9.
Not even the Heat’s statistically elite defense was good against the Pacers.
Miami entered with the NBA’s third-best defensive rating this season, and the top defensive rating since the start of February.
But the Heat turned in one of its worst defensive performances in the last month. The Pacers scored 137 points on 58.4 percent shooting from the field and 20-of-36 shooting on threes.
Indiana also finished with 60 paint points on Friday. The Heat entered allowing a league-low 39.9 paint points per game, and the Pacers scored 40 paint points in the first half.
Trevor Ariza made his Heat debut and played
in his first NBA game on Friday since March 10, 2020.
Coach Erik Spoelstra’s vision for Ariza was clear from his first minutes with the Heat. Ariza entered with 1:50 left in the first quarter for Kelly Olynyk to play as a small-ball power forward next to Adebayo.
Most of Ariza’s minutes are expected to come at this spot, as the Heat hopes it now has two reliable small-ball four options it can turn to in Andre Iguodala and Ariza.
Those small and versatile lineups were a big part of the Heat’s playoff run last season, when it started Jae Crowder — now with the Phoenix Suns — at power forward and then played Iguodala off the bench.
Ariza, 35, was limited to just one six-minute stint in his Heat debut. He finished with zero points on 0-of-2 shooting and two assists.
Miami acquired Ariza via trade Wednesday with the Oklahoma City Thunder in exchange for Meyers Leonard and a 2027 secondround pick.
Ariza had not played in an NBA game since last March because he opted out of playing in the NBA’s Walt Disney World bubble last season as a member of the Portland Trail Blazers and never played for the Thunder this season.
Ariza worked out in
South Florida during his time away from the Thunder in recent months to remain in shape.
With the Heat searching for answers on both ends of the court in a rough first half, Spoelstra went deep into his bench.
The first four players used off of Miami’s bench against the Pacers were KZ Okpala, Goran Dragic, Tyler Herro and Ariza.
But with Miami struggling to make outside shots and slow down Indiana’s offense, Spoelstra then called on two-way contract guard Gabe Vincent and center Chris Silva as the 10th and 11th Heat players who entered the game in the first half.
Rookie center Precious Achiuwa did not enter the contest until the Heat emptied its bench with a lopsided score and 4:22 remaining in the game.
Achiuwa’s role has shrunk recently, and the trade for Ariza could make it even tougher for him to earn consistent minutes moving forward this season.
The Heat had 14 of its 17 players available on Friday, but it was without three veterans.
Guard Avery Bradley, and forwards Udonis Haslem and Iguodala missed the contest.
Bradley missed his 21st consecutive game because
of a strained right calf and Iguodala was out because of left hip soreness.
Haslem, who first appeared on Friday’s 1:30 p.m. injury report, was
unavailable because of the NBA’s COVID-19 health and safety protocols. He did not test positive for the virus, but he is in protocols because of contact tracing.