South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Sunday)
Nowhere to run or hide
Heat left without answers vs. Pacers
There was a time when the Miami Heat were the hottest team in the NBA.
That was three games ago. Based on the last two, you’d hardly would know it.
After a sluggish, offensively deficient performance in a Wednesday night road loss to the Memphis Grizzlies, the Heat on Friday night displayed ineptitude on both ends of the court in falling 137-110 to the Indiana Pacers at AmericanAirlines Arena.
“This was absolutely for the overall majority of the game played on Indiana’s terms,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said.
En route to their first losing streak in a month, the Heat fell behind by double digits and never were able to find their footing.
The Pacers closed at 58.4% from the field and 20 of 36 on 3-pointers, while the Heat shot 9 of 34 on 3-pointers, with the offense out of sync similar to the struggles in Wednesday’s 89-85 loss in Memphis.
Five Degrees of Heat from Friday’s game:
1. Defenseless: The Heat entered as the league’s hottest defensive team, up to third in fewest points per game allowed and first in defensive field-goal percentage.
And then Malcolm Brogdon loaded up from the 3-point line and the Pacers continually blew past the Heat in transition.
“They didn’t miss,” Heat forward Bam Adebayo said. “That’s the bottom line.”
Ultimately, the Pacers’ wing players proved too much for the Heat to contain.
“We weren’t as active and disruptive as we normally are,” Spoelstra said. “But they were running it down our throats in the first half, so we weren’t even able to get our defense set.”
2. All or nothing: It looked like it was going to be a breakout night for Adebayo after he scored
12 first-quarter points to keep the Heat within two going into the second period.
And then the Pacers clamped down, with Adebayo limited to eight points the rest of the way.
“It was the way the flow went,” said Adebayo, who added eight rebounds and five assists.
He then downplayed any overwhelming concern.
“The beginning of the season, we were at the bottom of the East,” he said, “and we went to the four seed. We’ve lost two games. So, I mean, we’re OK. We’re going to figure it out.”
3. Ariza debuts: Trevor Ariza made his Heat debut when he entered with 1 minute, 50 seconds left in the second period, going 6:10 in his initial stint.
It was Ariza’s first NBA action since March 10, 2020, with the Portland Trail Blazers.
The initial stint was his only one as he finished scoreless, with two assists, missing his only two shots.
“He’ll be able to fast-track,” Spoelstra said. “I think we all would have liked for it to be a better performance on our part, but you can see he has an experience and a savviness to be able to fit in.”
4. The long shots: Who would have thought that what the Heat could use at Thursday’s NBA trading deadline is . . . a 3-point shooter?
The Heat opened 1 of 9 from beyond the arc and stood 3 of 16 on 3s at halftime and 5 of 25 after three quarters. They went into the night 26th in the 30-team league in
3-point percentage, at 34.7, a year after riding the long ball to the NBA Finals.
“I think we all agree that we’re right there,” Duncan Robinson said. “We’ve got a lot of guys who can take and make shots. It’s only a matter time.”
At one point in the third period, Brogdon had more 3-pointers (five) than the Heat did as a team (four).
5. More to come: Friday was the first of three games against the Pacers over a 13-day span, with the teams also to meet Sunday at AmericanAirlines Arena and then March 31 at Bankers Life Fieldhouse to close out the three-game season series.