Skid hits 3 as trade deadline looms
PACERS 109, HEAT 106 (OT)
They might as well have started running a countdown clock to Thursday’s 3 p.m. NBA trading deadline during the latter stages of Sunday’s game at AmericanAirlines Arena.
Because with a third consecutive loss, this time 109-106 in overtime to the Indiana Pacers, Pat Riley, Andy Elisburg and the Heat front-office staff might need to have an eventful week.
Struggling again on offense, particularly from the 3-point line, and unable to finish even when up by five in overtime, the Heat all too often stood as a two-man show Sunday, basically Bam Adebayo, Jimmy Butler or bust.
At 22-21 in a tight pack of teams in the middle of the Eastern Conference playoff race, the Heat stand in danger of losing the remainder of momentum from their run of 11 victories in 12 games that preceded this slide.
“It shouldn’t have to come down to being up five in overtime,” Butler said. “We did so much bad throughout the game. It’s karma. We didn’t deserve to win.”
Adebayo paced the Heat with 29 points and 10 rebounds, with Butler adding 21 points and 15 rebounds.
Domantas Sabonis led the Pacers with 17 points and 11 rebounds, fouling out in overtime.
The Heat closed 9 of 37 on 3-pointers.
“Certainly if we make a higher percentage of those shots, the tenor of the game can feel a lot different,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “But, regardless, we still were in control in overtime, with a fivepoint lead.”
Five Degrees of Heat from Sunday’s game:
1. Silenced at the finish: For yet another time, Spoelstra said he went unheard while attempting to call a timeout at a moment of truth.
This time it came with the Heat down by the final score after a Butler defensive rebound with 7.2 seconds to play. Instead of the Heat resetting, Butler missed a transition 3-point attempt at the buzzer.
“I’m not going to get in here and just crush the officials,” Spoelstra said, as he opened his postgame comments. “I think everybody needs a little bit of grace right now, with everything that’s going on. It is challenging, obviously, with masks and hearing everybody.
“I’ m calling a timeout. They probably couldn’t see it and hear it. But also I think more, importantly, it’s just the common-sense part of it, that I’m going to call a timeout there .”
The piped-in sound effects and artificial crowd noise certainly did not help.
“All these things are being addressed, and then mountains of pages of protocols for COVID,” Spoelstra said. “Look, I’m not happy about it, but I understand the officials are negotiating and working through a lot of different things.
“That’s a time-score, understanding down by three, with under 10 seconds to go . . . that that most likely will be a circumstance where there will be a timeout.”
Butler, though, said he had no issues with the lack of the stoppage.
“I was going to run down there and shoot the ball, anyways,” he said. “I didn’t know that he was trying to call a timeout. I guess I got to pay attention to him within the game a little but more. But I’m taking that shot.”
2. Closing time: The Heat went into the fourth quarter down 79-70 and stood behind by eight with 4:26 left in the period.
Eventually, with 12.2 seconds to go in regulation, Butler got to the line, converting only the first of two fouls shots, for a 98-98 tie, with the fourth quarter ending on a missed jumper by the Pacers’ Caris LeVert.
Sabonis then fouled out 16 seconds into overtime.
From there, the Heat then moved to their five-point lead early in overtime, only to see Indiana move ahead 104-103 on a pair of Justin Holiday 3-pointers.
Eventually, a LeVert jumper put the Pacers up 109-106 with 48.2 seconds to go, with Butler off with his 3-point attempt at the buzzer.
“The deal was we got up by five,” Spoelstra said, “however you get there, there were a lot of ups and downs to this game. But in overtime we got up five, in control of it and weren’t able to get stops down the stretch.”
3. Challenge won: Spoelstra won a significant coach’s challenge with 9:34 to play in third period, after a fierce Adebayo dunk over Sabonis initially was nullified by a charging call.
Immediately turning to his staff, Spoelstra signaled for the challenge, which he won, with it turned into a 3-point play by Adebayo.
“It shocked everybody, because I don’t usually jump off one leg,” Adebayo said.
Twenty seconds later, Sabonis was called for an offensive foul against Butler, Sabonis’ fourth foul.
The Pacers challenged that call and lost, giving the Heat possession.
It all was part of an 8-0 run that produced a 58-57 Heat lead.
4. Deep despair: The Heat’s 3-point struggles were crystalized by a second-quarter sequence that dropped them to 3 of 14 from beyond the arc on the way to 3 of 18 for the first half.
With 7:06 left before halftime, Butler missed a 3-pointer that was rebounded by Kelly Olynyk.
Six seconds later, Trevor Ariza missed a 3-pointer that was rebounded by Tyler Herro.
Five seconds after that, Ariza missed another 3-pointer, with the Pacers finally gaining possession.
All of that came with Robinson on the way to a 3-of-11 night on 3-pointers.
“In time, it will come back around,” Robinson said.
SaidAdebayo,“Wehadachanceto win it, no matter how bad we shot.”
5. Shorthanded again: The Heat’s wheel of injuries landed Sunday on Goran Dragic, with the veteran guard sidelined by back spasms.
It was the first game missed by Dragic since he missed nine from Feb. 7 to Feb. 22 with a sprained left ankle. Dragic also missed two games in early January while in health and safety protocols, and three more in late January with a strained right groin.
The Heat also remained without guard Avery Bradley for the 22nd consecutive game, due to a strained right calf.
Out for a second consecutive game due to COVID-19 contact tracing was Udonis Haslem, with the 40-year-old forward yet to play this season.
Forward Andre Iguodala, who missed the previous two games due to a sore left hip, returned Sunday.