INDIANAPOLIS – The headline act didn’t show up, and the Pacers once again didn’t show up in the game’s most critical moments.
With a head cold keeping Victor Oladipo in Miami, his teammates made more of the needed plays in the 4th quarter to come back and beat the Pacers, 92-87, inside Bankers Life Fieldhouse.
This game was defined by the Pacers inability to take firm control of the game as they built earlier leads. That playing with fire led to the Heat (24-24) having a chance in the 4th quarter, where they outscored Indiana 27-20.
Indiana’s starting perimeter players of Malcolm Brogdon, Caris LeVert and Justin Holiday combined to go 9-of-35 from the floor.
Myles Turner led Indiana with 15 points.
It was a rare night where Brogdon (7 points) and Domantas Sabonis (9 points) were both held to single digits.
The Pacers led 78-72 with 9:15 to go on Wednesday, but that’s when Indiana scored just 4 points in the next 8 minutes, as the Heat took control.
Duncan Robinson led Miami with 20 points.
Jeremy Lamb did not play on Monday due to a sprained toe.
The Pacers (21-24) will have an important back-to-back this weekend with a Friday home game versus the Hornets and then a trip to take on the Spurs.
Three Things Learned
1. Wilting In The 4th: How ever this 2020-21 season ends for the Pacers, one of the major storylines that will be remembered is the inability to close games out in the 4th quarter. When it’s ‘good on good’ at the most important part of the contest, the Pacers have largely wilted down the stretch. On Wednesday, Indiana was outscored 27-20 in the 4th with another 5-minute scoring drought dooming the Pacers’ hopes. Are the constant issues in the final quarter more personnel driven or on the coaching staff? It’s definitely a bit of both. Personally, I just don’t think the Pacers have enough horses to make those late-clock plays in the waning moments.
2. Massive April Awaits: At 21-25, the Pacers will gladly close the book on March and now face a very favorable April slate, with 26 games to go in the regular season. Currently, the Pacers are 9th in the East and would have to fall off a cliff to be out of the play-in format for the playoffs (7th vs. 8th seed for the 7th spot; then the loser of that game taking on the winner of the 9th and 10th spot game for that 8th and final seed). In April, the Pacers will see a schedule that includes just 3 games against the top 7 teams in the league. Still, the margin for error in this month is shrinking. The Pacers need something around a 10-6/11-5 month to feel better about their playoff standing entering the final two weeks of the season in May.
3. Oladipo Sits: At first it looked like a title from The Onion: “Victor Oladipo to miss Pacers game due to head cold.” Oladipo’s much-anticipated return to Bankers Life Fieldhouse didn’t take place on Wednesday night as he’s yet to play for the Heat since being traded to them last Thursday. Unfortunately, this is the only remaining game for the Heat to come to Indiana this season. Even though attendance is scaled back inside BLF, it still would have been interesting to see how fans would have reacted to Oladipo coming back to play in Indy. Perhaps the basketball gods will have this be a playoff matchup, or even a play-in game.
Pacers Upcoming Schedule
-Hornets (Friday, 4/2, at 8:00 PM)
-@Spurs (Saturday, 4/3, at 9:00 PM)
-Bulls (Tuesday, 4/6, at 7:00 PM)
-Timberwolves (Wednesday, 4/7, at 7:00 PM)
-@Magic (Friday, 4/9, at 7:00 PM)
