There was a time when the Miami Heat were the hottest team in the NBA.
That was three games ago.
Based on the last two, you would hardly know it.
After a sluggish, offensively deficient performance in a Wednesday night road loss to the Memphis Grizzlies, the Heat on Friday night displayed ineptitude on both ends of the court in falling, 137-110, to the Indiana Pacers at AmericanAirlines Arena.
Now with their first losing streak in a month, the Heat fell behind by double digits and never were able to find their footing.
The Pacers closed at .584 from the field and 20 of 36 on 3-pointers, while the Heat shot 9 of 34 on 3-pointers, with the offense out of sync, similar to the struggles in Wednesday’s 89-85 loss in Memphis.
Bam Adebayo led the Heat with 20 points, with Jimmy Butler scoring 17, the Heat again playing in the injury absence of Andre Iguodala.
Malcolm Brogdon led the Pacers with 27 points, shooting 7 of 9 on 3-pointers, with All-Star forward Domantas Sabonis adding 13 points and 15 rebounds.
The Pacers’ scoring total was a season high and the most they have scored against the Heat in the teams’ 33 seasons of meetings.
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Five Degrees of Heat from Friday’s game:
1. Defenseless: The Heat entered as the league’s hottest defensive team, up to third in the league in fewest points per game allowed and first in defensive field-goal percentage.
And then Brogdon loaded up from the 3-point line and the Pacers continually blew past the Heat in transition.
Ultimately, the Pacers’ wing players proved too much for the Heat to contain.
2. All or nothing: It looked like it was going to be a breakout night for Adebayo, after he scored 12 first-quarter points, to keep the Heat within two going into the second period.
And then the Pacers clamped down, with Adebayo limited to eight points the rest of the way.
Adebayo added eight rebounds and five assists.
3. Ariza debuts: Trevor Ariza made his Heat debut when he entered with 1:50 left in the second period, going six minutes in his initial stint.
It was Ariza’s first NBA action since March 10, 2020 with the Portland Trail Blazers.
“I don’t want to keep on comparing him to Andre, but he’s in great shape,” Spoelstra said. “So it’s not as if he hasn’t been doing basketball activities. And there’s no time like the present to get him up to speed.”
Ariza played that lone initial stint, finishing scoreless, with two assists, missing his only two shots.
4. The long shots: Who would have thought that what the Heat could use at Thursday’s NBA trading deadline is . . . a 3-point shooter?
The Heat opened 1 of 9 from beyond the arc and stood 3 of 16 on threes at halftime and 5 of 25 after three quarters. They went into the night 26th in the 30-team league in 3-point percentage, at .347, a year after riding the long ball to the NBA Finals.
A one point in the third period, Brogdon had more 3-pointers (5) than the Heat did as a team (4).
For the Heat, Kelly Olynyk shot 1 of 7 on 3-pointers, Duncan Robinson 2 of 8 and Tyler Herro 1 of 5.
5. More to come: Friday was the first of three games against the Pacers over a 13-day span, with the teams also to meet Sunday at AmericanAirlines Arena and then March 31 at Bankers Life Fieldhouse to close out the three-game season series.
The Heat swept the Pacers 4-0 in the opening round of last season’s playoffs.
“Obviously, they’re very familiar with this team from the playoffs a year ago, so that stuff does sink in and stay with you. That’s a normal feeling,” first-year Pacers coach Nate Bjorkgren said.
