Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
No pop in this bubble game
Heat-Pacers showdown for No. 4 seed will have little meaning or stars
Friday’s showdown for the No. 4 playoff seed in the Eastern Conference between the Miami Heat and Indiana Pacers figures to feature all the passion, talent and energy … of an NBA preseason game.
Both teams on Friday put their (lack of ) playing cards on the table in the league’s injury report.
For the Heat, Jimmy Butler (foot), Bam Adebayo (knee) and Goran Dragic (ankle) are listed as out for the 4 p.m. game against the Indiana Pacers at Disney’s Wide World of Sports complex. The injuries, while lingering ailments for each, are listed instead of calling the absences rest.
In addition, the Heat are listing forward Jae Crowder as questionable, due to a bruised right knee sustained early in Wednesday night’s loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder; forward Derrick Jones Jr. as questionable with a bruised left knee; Andre Iguodala as questionable with left hip soreness; and Gabe Vincent (shoulder) and KZ Okpala (personal reasons) as out.
Crowder, according to an NBA source, is expected to be available for next week’s start of the NBA playoffs.
Other Heat rotation players also are expected to be given the game off, as well.
The Pacers issued an injury report Thursday that has starters Victor Oladipo, Myles Turner and T.J. Warren out, with Oladipo listed as out due to an ankle, Turner out due to a wrist and Warren out due to foot. The Pacers already have been playing in the absence of still-sidelined Domantas
Sabonis (foot) and Jeremy Lamb (knee).
The teams go into the game tied at No. 4 in the East at 44-28.
Already seeded to meet in the first round of the playoffs, the battle for homecourt advantage is nonexistent inside the NBA’s Disney World bubble — no fans, all games on the neutral courts of the Wide World of Sports complex.
“It’s just a different situation,” Pacers coach Nat McMillan said Thursday. “It’s no home court in the sense of you having your fan base, sleeping in your bed, there’s none of that.”
Which makes it a whole new Disney world ahead of the team’s best-of-seven opening-round series that begins either Monday or Tuesday.
“Non-existent,” Pacers guard T.J. McConnell said. “I think, honestly, the NBA has done an amazing job, having us all down here and what they’ve set up. But for me, in the playoffs, the fans are a huge part of the game. And although they’re here virtually, you can’t just make up for them not being here. So I really think the homecourt advantage at that point is taken away from you.”
Just about the only motivation Friday is a slight increase from the NBA’s annual playoff pool. Last season, for example, the No. 4 seeds in each conference received $238,000 per team, with the No. 5 seeds receiving $198,317. Divide that between 17 players and you are talking little more than NBA meal money.
While prevention of the entrance of COVID-19 into the Disney setting is the NBA’s ultimate priority, the priority for the Heat and Pacers is avoiding injury Friday.
“It’s a chance to get healthy,” McMillan said. “We’re going to have to look at that. And we also want to compete. So it’s not we’re going to take this game off. There’s some guys that we may need to look at cutting their minutes or resting them due to some injuries and some fatigue.”
Ditto for Heat coach Erik Spoelstra, who, unlike McMillan, gave his team Thursday off. That was after sitting Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo and Duncan Robinson for the second half of Wednesday night’s 116-115 loss to the Oklahoma City. As it is, with a loss the Heat could improve their draft position several slots.
For the Pacers’ Malcolm Brogdon, Friday means a chance to go to school on a system, even if the players are different than those the Pacers will face next week.
“I think it’s going to help us,” Brogdon said. “We’re playing a team that we’re going to play in the playoffs, so, for me, it’s just all about getting a rhythm, about getting confidence. It’s about feeling this team out, and learning a little bit more of what they do so we’re prepared for the playoffs.”