MIAMI _ This certainly felt like two steps back after Friday's step forward.
Because for as much as the road victory over the Washington Wizards created hope, Sunday's 120-95 loss to the Indiana Pacers at AmericanAirlines Arena was numbing on so many levels for the Miami Heat.
"Look," coach Erik Spoelstra said in his curt and angry postgame comment, "I don't have an answer to our unreliability right now."
This wasn't just about falling to 3-5 at home, it was about falling to 7-9 on a night when it could have been back to .500.
And it certainly doesn't get an easier, with the Boston Celtics up next on Wednesday night, then a four-game trip that includes matchups with the Minnesota Timberwolves and Cleveland Cavaliers, and games to follow shortly thereafter against the Golden State Warriors and San Antonio Spurs.
How passive of an effort was it?
So passive that through three quarters the Heat had attempted 26 3-pointers and two free throws.
So passive that Hassan Whiteside was lifted in the third period for the energy of the first appearance of the night of rookie center Bam Adebayo.
So passive that Dion Waiters closed 0 for 10, his first scoreless game as a member of the Heat.
And then came the ultimate white flag, with Udonis Haslem inserted for the first time this season with 3:26 to play.
So even with Wayne Ellington matching his career high of seven 3-pointers, there basically was nothing from the Heat.
The Pacers, by contrast, got 25 points on 11-of-14 shooting from center Myles Turner and 26 points from forward Bojan Bogdanovich.
The Heat were outscored 37-13 in the third period ... and that basically was it.
Turner dominated the first half, closing the opening two periods with 20 points on 9-of-10 shooting, allowing the Pacers to take a 58-55 lead into the intermission.
The Heat took mostly a passive approach at the outset, attempting 21 3-pointers in the first half and only two free throws.
The Heat nonetheless were able to push to a six-point lead in the second period, behind four 3-pointers from Ellington, before being doomed by a shaky close to the second period, when the Pacers scored five points in the final 3.1 seconds, on a Turner 3-pointer and Thaddeus Young jumper off his steal of a bad pass from James Johnson.
The was the second game of the four-game series and the Pacers' second and final visit of the season.
The Heat won the first meeting 112-108 on Oct. 21, with Goran Dragic scoring 23 points and Waiters 19, in a game the Heat were without Whiteside and the Pacers were without Turner.
The Heat entered having won five of the previous six meetings, on a six-game home winning streak against the Pacers.
The game opened a two-game homestand for the Heat that will be followed by a four-game trip.
The game opened a back-to-back set for the Pacers that ended Monday in Orlando, Fla.
The Heat were coming off Friday's 91-88 victory in Washington, when Whiteside stepped up with 22 points and 16 rebounds.
The Pacers entered with three victories in their previous four games, coming off Friday's 107-100 victory over the visiting Pistons.
