Mateo’s Hoop Diary: The Heat embarrassed themselves with their effort, getting blasted by the struggling Pacers

The Heat got waxed by the Pacers in Indiana so severely that they quit before the fourth quarter started. Perhaps they were thinking of their next outing on Sunday at OKC, but it showed the unit’s extreme variance: defeating the best team in the East, the Detroit Pistons, nine days earlier, and looking as hopeless as the bottom feeders on Saturday.

The Pacers were using their league-leading 23rd starting lineup, which had more chemistry than Miami’s, and they led by eight points before the first substitution. Despite a prosperous sequence in the second and third quarters, it didn’t matter what the Heat tried; there was too much dead weight, and the Pacers broke their spirit with an abundance of 3-pointers and open-court strikes.

Andrew Nembhard smoked them in the first half with six baskets at short, middle and long range. He then continued pouring in 3-pointers, plus four of his teammates piled on in the third quarter, each logging two baskets apiece.

The Heat started the fourth quarter down 27 points and it was already garbage time because Tyler Herro was their only starter who played significant minutes in the period. 

They lost 123-99. It was their fourth game logging below 100 points (0-4) this year.

Takeaways:

• Another game, another disappointing night from Bam Adebayo. He isn’t imposing his presence offensively because of lost confidence, and at some points, is invisible. He finished with 13 points on 41.7% shooting, with nine rebounds and two assists. It was the fifth straight game he has shot below 50% and the 18th this season.

• The closest they got within the second was half was down seven points, but the avalanche came immediately and they failed to respond. They had poor execution, turning the ball over six times in the third. T.J. McConnell was one of the players who destroyed them, pushing the pace unbothered, and exposing openings with the pass.

• The Heat have been the fastest team all season, but they were steps behind the Pacers, who went small with Pascal Siakam at center. The visitors only scored 100 points per 100 transition plays, good enough for the 19th percentile per Cleaning the Glass. Sure, teams eventually come out like gangbusters when they get sick and tired of the taste of constant defeat. The Pacers were going to come out like that eventually, but the concerning part for the Heat was their inability to match intensity.

• If this were a boxing fight, the Heat would have been on the ropes, eating bombs from all angles. They only made 39% of attempts, and it’s surprising their accuracy even got that high. Consider that they only had one trifecta in the first half (8.3%), which is the lowest they’ve recorded this season before intermission, and finished with four, the lowest total this year.

• Herro replaced Kel’el Ware in the starting lineup and was the team’s best player. His baskets kept them on life support before the Pacers disconnected them.