Grades: Heat beat Pacers  without Haliburton behind unbelievably hot shooting

 

 

The Indiana Pacers made an incomprehensible 77% of their field goal attempts while scoring 119 points in the final three quarters and beat the Miami Heat by a final score of 144-129.

The Pacers offensive explosion came without Tyrese Haliburton, who missed the game with a respiratory illness. After struggling in the first quarter to find a rhythm with the starters making just 2 of 15 shots in the opening 12 minutes, the Pacers would only miss 14 shot attempts over the remainder of the game.

Despite a solid effort defensively to begin the game, it looked like the Pacers were lost offensively and doomed to a third straight loss. Instead, the bench brought life into the team behind TJ McConnell, Bennedict Mathurin, Aaron Nesmith, and Isaiah Jackson who made a combined 18 of 24 shots in the first half. In the second half, everyone got into the act.

The Heat were without Bam Adebayo, their defensive anchor, and the Pacers took full advantage after failing to do so in the second half of their previous game in Miami on Thursday. The Pacers performed a much better job of defending without fouling than the Heat, who attempted 21 fewer free throw attempts, with Jimmy Butler taking only three in the first three quarters and nine overall.

Toppin was outstanding on both ends of the floor. Don’t let Jimmy Butler’s final line deceive you. Toppin was fantastic defending him the whole game, not biting on his pump fakes or giving up many fouls on Butler’s numerous attempts to flop the momentum back to the Heat by getting to the foul line. Butler converted only 4 of 11 shots with Toppin as his primary opponent.

 

 

He stopped two of Butler’s drives to the basket and finished with a career-high four blocks total. He intercepted a post-entry pass late in the fourth quarter as Miami attempted a late comeback. While playing through a sprained ankle in the fourth quarter, he disputed a Butler 3 and then beat him down the floor for a and-1 leak out.

“Obi’s effort on him and other guys he guarded was terrific,” Rick Carlisle said after the game, adding that the team wanted to try to put more length on Butler and praised Toppin’s discipline while defending him.

Toppin scored 22 points by making 7 of his 8 shot attempts. He hit several clutch 3-pointers in the second half to increase the Pacers’ lead and thwart Heat rallies.

McConnell had his best game of the season as he made 10 of 11 shots on his way to 20 points and added 11 assists in 25 minutes. It was his usual array of tough fading middies just inside the paint or along the baseline plus layups where he outran the defense to the rim.

“From the very start of the game, he had a major impact,” Carlisle said. “Impact defensively, impact scoring the ball, impact creating pace … you have to give him a lot of credit. The level of conditioning needed to play the minutes that he played considering that he hasn’t been playing much in the games shows you his level of professional approach and keeping himself ready by doing all the work.”

Carlisle also emphasized his shot at the end of the half, which knotted the game and gave the Pacers some momentum. Brown was the most amused with McConnell’s performance.

“He hit a middy over Jimmy and I was like ‘How the f— did he do that?'” Brown stated.

The Hear temporarily switched to a zone, but McConnell smashed it with a Pacers favorite play in which they set screens on both defenders at the top of the zone and let McConnell to drive through the middle to get into the paint.

Brown said he concentrated on being more aggressive than he was in the first game without Haliburton, when he only scored two points against the Celtics, which he called unacceptable.

He scored 30 points in this game, one point shy of his career high. He was essential to a late-first-half surge in which the Pacers were down 7 with less than three minutes left and tied it up, swinging the tide in their favor.

The tenacity was on display with some challenging basket attempts, including one in which he took advantage of his guy being on the ground to rush down the floor, create a mismatch with Kevin Love, and draw the and-1 foul. Brown lay on the ground with a blank face after the foul, as if he was playing dead.

He finished the game 11 for 16 and made 4 of 6 deep shots. He was the only starter who made many shots in the first half, going 4 for 6, while the rest of the starters went 4 for 17. He had a +20 team rating.

Nesmith was another bench player who barely missed any shots. He finished 7 for 9 with 20 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist, and an amazing block that resembled Myles Turner cleaning up at the rim after switching onto the big.

He went 4 of 6 on 3-pointers and had the classic highlight of causing his defender to fall over (with the help of stepping on his foot) and then drilling the open 3-pointer.

Turner got outplayed by Orlando Robinson in the first half as the Heat center caused issues for him multiple times in the second quarter on the glass and beat him off the dribble for a bucket as well. Turner recovered in the second half and finished with 17 points, 10 rebounds, and 2 blocks. He made 7 of 8 shots from 2 and finally got a 3-pointer to go down in the 4th quarter after missing his first 7 over these two games in Miami. His block on a Caleb Martin dunk attempt was one of his best and resulted in a Buddy Hield 3 during the Pacers run to start the third quarter that gave them a decent lead.

Turner was also crucial in breaking through the Heat zone to begin the fourth, as he found holes in the middle of the defense many times before they abandoned it.

In this game, the Pacers needed an aggressive Mathurin, and he delivered. With the offense floundering, he was a key member of the bench group that began to find some rhythm in the absence of their star. On his route to 16 points (6 of 10), he took 3s decisively off the grab and drove to the hoop with force.

He also added 5 rebounds and 4 assists. He had four turnovers but made a few really nice passes including a tough one-handed pass to find Nesmith in the corner after he got into the paint and drew multiple bodies. His minutes were limited not because of defensive lapses but due to foul trouble in this one including a bad charge call where Mathurin hit the side of a Heat defender and should have been rewarded with a call in his favor.

Nembhard couldn’t make anything as he went just 1 for 9 but he did everything else well in this game. He had 11 assists and zero turnovers, was part of the runs to end the first half and start the third quarter that turned the game around, and played well defensively while avoiding fouls. He had just one after fouling out on Thursday.

Hield still struggled to find his outside shot but he didn’t shoot the Pacers out of this game as he took only 7 shots total and scored 7 points. His grade is lower than the rest mostly due to a second quarter stretch where he was beat by Duncan Robinson off the dribble multiple times as he hit short-range attempts in the paint. Hield also added 2 steals and 2 assists in his 24 minutes.

Jackson played 8 minutes and made all 3 of his shots. The Pacers elected to play small with Toppin at the 5 and Nesmith guarding the 5 often in this game which limited his minutes but Jackson played well in his time, had some strong finishes at the rim and looked to be recovered from his illness which is hopefully a good sign for Haliburton being ready to go on Monday.

Sheppard played 3 minutes in the first half and committed 2 fouls with no other stats. I’m not sure he touched the ball during his time on the court. I guess you could give him a C for cardio.