South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Sunday)
Looking to earn a split decision against Pacers
The Miami Heat have great familiarity with the situation they’re facing.
Their rematch versus the Indiana Pacers on Sunday at AmericanAirlines Arena after falling to the Pacers in a blowout loss on Friday will be their first two-game, baseball-style series (playing the same opponent in consecutive games in the same arena) since the All-Star break.
The Heat (22-20) played in seven of those kinds of series during the first half of the season, with two more (versus the Chicago Bulls on April 24 and April 26, at the Boston Celtics on May 9 and May 11) scheduled for the remainder of the season.
The outcomes of playing the same opponent consecutively? A lot of split series.
The Heat split five of the aforementioned seven baseball-style series they’ve played, with the team that lost the first game convincingly winning the rematch most of the time.
They lost to the Milwaukee Bucks 144-97 on Dec. 29 at AmericanAirlines Arena before beating the Bucks 119-108 the next day. The Heat fell to the Detroit Pistons on Jan. 16 at home by 20 points, then beat the Pistons by six two nights later. They beat the Toronto Raptors by nine on the road on Jan. 20, only to lose by 20 on Jan. 22.
A similar pattern occurred in the Heat’s series against the Washington
Wizards (three-point home loss on Feb. 3; 27-point win on Feb.
5) and Atlanta Hawks (10-point win on the road on Feb. 28; 14-point loss on March 2).
The only sweeps the Heat have witnessed was during January in consecutive losses against the Philadelphia 76ers, when Miami had the league-minimum eight players available in both matchups, and against the Brooklyn Nets. Jimmy Butler was sidelined for both games.
The Heat beat the New York Knicks in consecutive games on Feb. 7 and Feb. 9, but the first game was played in Madison Square Garden while the second was played at AmericanAirlines Arena.
“I looked that up about three weeks ago: it was a little bit over
50% at that time leaguewide,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said Saturday when asked how hard
it is to win the second game in the series-model matchups. “It might be different based on some different factors — how the game went before, whether it’s a back-to-back or you’re on the road.
“For us, it’s irrelevant in this regard: We want to play much better than we did. [Friday], they outplayed us in so many different categories. They really did earn that win.”
The Pacers seemingly entered Friday with the motivation factor playing into their hands in the first matchup between the two teams this season after the Heat eliminated them from last year’s playoffs in the first round.
For the Heat, Sunday will be about ending their two-game losing streak and getting back to their winning ways after claiming victories in 16 of their previous 22 games.
“That second game, you have time to make adjustments,” Tyler Herro said. “You really look at the film and you’re able to see where you went wrong and what you can improve on game-to-game, kind of like a playoff series. [Sunday] will be much different on our end as far as the energy and the focus.”
Injury report
Avery Bradley will miss his 22nd consecutive game Sunday due to his calf strain, with Spoelstra saying he doesn’t have a timetable for Bradley’s return to the floor.
Bradley hasn’t played since sustaining the injury in the Heat’s loss to the Washington Wizards on Feb. 3 after originally being expected to be out for three to four weeks. He’s only played 10 games this season due to COVID-19 and injury absences.
Goran Dragic (lower back spasms) and Andre Iguodala (left hip soreness) are both listed as questionable for Sunday, while Gabe Vincent is listed as probable due to right knee soreness, like he has for a significant part of the season.
Dragic played 23 minutes, 44 seconds in Friday’s loss, scoring 16 points on 6-of-10 shooting. Iguodala has missed the Heat’s last two games and didn’t play in the second half of Tuesday’s win versus the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Udonis Haslem remains out due to the league’s health and safety protocols, which made him unavailable for Friday’s game too.