INDIANAPOLIS — On Wednesday night the Miami Heat showed up at Bankers Life Fieldhouse with an attitude and mean jump shot. When the smoke cleared they were walking out of the joint with a 122-108 win. They not only beat the brakes off of the Pacers but they did it with everybody scoring.
The Heat had 7 players in double figures led by Tyler Herro coming off of the bench with 19 points. Derrick Jones Jr. and Bam Adebayo dropped off 18 points apiece while Duncan Robinson added 17 to the pot. Kendrick Nunn and Goran Dragic dropped off 15 each on their way to Big Momma’s house as Jimmy Butler finished with 14.
They shot 53 percent from the field as a team and 42 percent from behind the arc. There was little to nothing the Pacers could do with them shooting that well with everybody contributing.
Both Miami and Indiana came out of the ride trading baskets. However, the Heat’s Duncan Robinson started shooting that thang early. At the first timeout with 5:26 left in the first quarter he led them to a 19-11 lead. However, out of the timeout Indiana went on an 8-4 run to get right back into it. Miami had to call timeout to talk about it while being up 23-19.
I don’t know what was said in the huddle but Jimmy Butler came out of the joint on fiyyyahh!!! He started playing crazy defense and he got to the rack with two explosive dunks to silence the Bankers Life Fieldhouse crowd. He added a turn around jumper to register 6 of his 14 points in the first quarter. After the first period Miami was up 31-23.
The second quarter turned up like a pot of greens on Thanksgiving. Both teams were getting up and down the floor with crazy enthusiasm. However, in the process of trading baskets the Pacers didn’t help themselves because they weren’t getting stops. At the break Miami was up 62-49 and purring like a kitten.
The Heat came out of the break and jumped all over the Pacers with a 38 point third quarter holding the Pacers to just 23 points. The final period was literally a matter of formality as the Blue and Gold couldn’t wrestle the Heat down and get stops. They were on fire!!!
It wasn’t like Indiana played bad. They just got outplayed!! The Pacers shot 47 percent from the field and had 35 assists as a team but they couldn’t stop the Heat from scoring tat will.
Domantas Sabonis led Indiana with 27 points and 14 rebounds. Aaron and Justin Holiday both finished with 14 apiece while Jeremy Lamb and Ed Sumner finished with 13 each. Up next for Indiana is Chicago on Friday night on the road.
