Mateo’s Hoop Diary: The Heat hit a roadblock in Indiana as desperation rises

The Heat folded in Indiana, where the Pacers were on an 11-game home losing streak stretching back to Feb. 2. There was no bigger issue than the defense, which allowed the Pacers to score in the 88th percentile, per Cleaning the Glass.

Keep in mind that they struggled against the team trying to lose, again. It was discouraging for anyone affiliated with them or supporting their cause as it was no different than watching someone who is supposed to be a decent level fighter go the distance and lost a split decision against someone who was supposed to be a tuneup.

They were barely up two after the first quarter thanks to Micah Potter getting payback for getting waived by the Heat nearly five years ago, by making four 3-pointers and T.J. McConnell adding four baskets at short and long range.

If it wasn’t for Tyler Herro going beast mode in the first half, they would have been embarrassed sooner. Yet the Pacers’ ball movement around the arc and penetration through the middle exposed the visitors, putting them down four at intermission.

It was subsequently a shootout and a track meet. Herro’s flurry continued, nailing two extra treys and scoring at close range, and the rest of the starters each made multiple shots in the third quarter. Subsequently, the zone was prominent in the fourth quarter, but it wasn’t as disruptive as they needed while the offense fell apart. 

The Heat lost 135-118 after 10 ties and 16 lead changes, the last one coming in the last nine minutes.

Coach Erik Spoelstra said, “We just haven’t been able to do it in these last several losses, but I know our guys want this. So we are going to take this L, take that last L against Cleveland. They are two disappointing losses, and we are going to back to Miami and figure out how to get this one tomorrow.”

Takeaways:

• The Heat have the bad habit of not paying enough attention to detail on defense in games they need. Spoelstra even said that they cycled through all of their coverages, but that the team “needs to show that toughness right now.” Still, the Pacers have good pieces that helped them get to the 2025 Finals, yet they are without their star point guard Tyrese Haliburton while he recovers from torn achilles tendon that he suffered in Game 7 of that series. Even without him, the Pacers are the second-best passing team in the league behind the Golden State Warriors. Furthermore, the Heat’s 3-point protection was lacking as they permitted 13 in the first half (five in the second), six coming from the corner. The pace hurt them by tiring their legs by the time the fourth quarter started. 

• The Heat’s schemes prioritize protecting the paint at all costs, but the Pacers shot 7.1% above the league average at 0-3 feet and 13.8 above it in the non restricted area (3-10 feet). The Pacers scored 54 points in the lane, most of it coming from Siakam (12) and Quenton Jackson (10).

• The first game of the back-to-back set, which concludes against Philadelphia on Monday, was a disaster because the Heat are desperate to avoid the Play-In Tournament. The loss drops them three games out of the sixth seed, making their fourth-straight trip into the Play-In inevitable, with seven games remaining. 

• Herro played poorly in the second half of the miniseries in Cleveland, so it was no surprise that he came out blazing. He was shooting 63.2% through three quarters before going cold in the final stretch.

• Pascal Siakam is a matchup problem for everyone on the Heat not named Bam Adebayo. He’s smooth on the dribble plus can pull-up from distance. His scoring, Andrew Nembhard’s steady shot creation, and the 39 combined points from Potter plus T.J. McConnell did too much damage. Additionally, the Pacers had three players log multiple baskets in the fourth quarter.

• The Pacers broadcast highlighted C.J. Miles, who works as a photographer for the digital marketing team. He was a guard for them from 2014-17.