Tempers Flare As Heat Blowout Pacers

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INDIANAPOLIS – Wednesday brought two dates for Pacers fans to circle on their calendars.

The Pacers/Heat rematch on March 20^th (at Bankers Life Fieldhouse) better mean even more to Indiana after they got run out of their own building on Wednesday.

Leading by as many as 31 points, the Heat beat the Pacers, 122-108, in a final score that was only that close because Nate McMillan played his starters for virtually the entire 4^th quarter.

The loss was Indiana’s 6^th in their last 9 games, with the defensive end continuing to be an issue.

“We’ve had a couple of games like this where basically they’ve pretty much dominated us on both ends of the floor,” McMillan said of the recent struggles. “I thought defensively their pressure, they disrupted us offensively where we didn’t get our good looks. Their offense was very efficient, really all three quarters.

“It’s another level of intensity that we need to get to.”

Domantas Sabonis led the Pacers with 27 points, 14 rebounds and 6 assists, but that was really the only highlight for Indiana.

T.J. Warren was ejected in the third quarter after he and Jimmy Butler got into a second altercation.

The Heat shot 53 percent from the floor, 42 percent from 3 and built a lead 28-point lead heading into the 4^th quarter. Miami was extremely balanced with 7 guys scoring at least 14 points.

Wednesday’s loss was the first time all year that Indiana had dropped back-to-back games at home.

Miami (27-10) is now 2-0 on the year over Indiana (23-15).

Malcolm Brogdon (lower back) missed his 11^th game of the season

Three Things Learned

-Warren/Butler Scuffle: Thank the lord for this entertainment in the third quarter, because the Pacers weren’t providing much of it on Wednesday. Both T.J. Warren and Jimmy Butler should have been thrown out, but the refs somehow missed the blowing of kisses from Butler, after Warren received his second tech for taunting. With Butler taking to social media afterwards and continuing the trash talk, both teams should be looking forward to the rematch on Friday, March 20^th at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. For more than one reason, I’d be a fan of these two teams meeting again in a first-round playoff series.

-Defense Issues Continue: Perhaps it’s the loss of Malcolm Brogdon leading to the continued defensive issues as the Pacers have now lost 6 of their last 9 games. Whatever it is, the Pacers have to get it together on that end of the floor. They don’t have the offensive firepower, particularly from the perimeter, to be subpar defensively. Assistant coach Dan Burke was not happy at halftime at the ease and rhythm in which the Heat were able to get into offensively. Brogdon is the quarterback on both ends of the floor so the Pacers could really use his return to try and stymie some of the defensive issues.

-Victor Oladipo Sets Return Date: Fireworks were aplenty on Wednesday night at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. Before Wednesday’s tip, you had Victor Oladipo having a press conference, following his announcement of a January 29^th return date. While Oladipo still hasn’t been full throttle in a 5-on-5 practice setting against frontline guys, his return to playing in a game has an actual date set on the calendar. A home matchup with the Bulls on the 29^th gives Oladipo an 8-game stretch before the All-Star break, with 7 of those games at home and only 1 back-to-back. That should allow for the Pacers to ease Oladipo into game action, seeing where his minutes threshold is at before the All-Star break comes on February 12^th.