Pacers set for NBA Cup opener vs shaky Heat

Indiana Pacers guard T.J. McConnell (9) celebrates a made basket in the second half against the New York Knicks at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Mandatory Credit: Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images

The Miami Heat will try to break free from their recent doldrums, while the host Indiana Pacers will look to add some zest to their offense in Friday’s NBA Cup group-play game at Indianapolis.

The Heat are 0-1 in NBA Cup East: Group B play, while the Pacers will be playing their first game of the in-season competition that culminates next month.

Losers in four of their past five games, the Heat could be without Jimmy Butler, who came away with an ankle injury in Friday’s loss to the Denver Nuggets and has not played in the past two games. Butler did not participate in practice Thursday.

READ: NBA Cup: Pistons beat Heat in OT, aided by technical FT

Miami’s Tyler Herro is doing all he can, notching his second career 40-point game against the Detroit Pistons on Tuesday, when the Heat’s undoing was a puzzling coaching mishap from Erik Spoelstra in the final seconds.

Spoelstra requested a timeout when his team was out of them after the Pistons tied the game with 1.1 seconds remaining in overtime.

Instead of having the ball in a situation that would have extended the game to a second overtime at worst, Spoelstra’s technical foul sent the Pistons to the free-throw line for a go-ahead free throw in an eventual 123-121 loss.

READ: NBA: Strong shooting night lifts Pacers past Magic

The loss put the Heat two games under .500 and left Spoelstra despondent after the game.

“I feel horrible about it,” Spoelstra said. “There’s really no excuse for that. I’m 17 years in, we had talked about it in the huddle, I knew that we didn’t have anything. I just got emotional and reactive on that, and I just made a horrendous mistake there at the end.”

Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra yells during the first half of an Emirates NBA Cup basketball game against the Detroit Pistons, Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

The Pacers were unable to build off a 132-121 home win over the New York Knicks on Sunday and lost 94-90 to the Orlando Magic on Wednesday. They scored only 83 points in a road loss to the Charlotte Hornets on Friday.

Indiana’s Bennedict Mathurin led the Pacers with a career-high 38 points in the win over the Knicks, helping push his season average to 19.7 points per game. Pascal Siakam leads the team at 20.5 points.

READ: NBA: Spoelstra laments calling timeout that Heat didn’t have

The Pacers couldn’t overcome a rough shooting night from Tyrese Haliburton against the Magic on Wednesday. Haliburton scored nine points on 3-of-14 shooting (21.4 percent), including 2 of 8 from 3-point range.

Haliburton scored six points on 2-of-11 shooting against the Hornets on Friday, but sandwiched between those performances was a 35-point, 14-assist outing against the New York Knicks.

Haliburton is averaging 16 points per game, just behind Myles Turner’s 16.8 points per game. Haliburton also has a team-high 8.5 assists, but both his scoring and assist averages are down from a year ago in the early going.

The Pacers have been challenged by the schedule to start the season, with much of the action against playoff teams from a season ago.

“We’ve got to fight and claw for everything at this point in the season,” Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle said. “These first 10 or 12 games are as tough as anybody’s schedule in the league and so we’ve got to make it about the collective group, and who we are and what we’re trying to stand for.”

For the Heat, Herro is averaging a career high 24.9 points to lead the team and trails only Bam Adebayo in minutes per game with 33.5. Herro also has averages of 5.2 rebounds and 5.3 assists.

Butler is second on the team with 16.1 points per game, while playing in eight of the team’s 10 contests, while Adebayo is averaging 15.3 points and 9.1 rebounds. –Field Level Media