Heat enters with healthy rotation, but still crushed by NBA-worst Pacers. Takeaways and details

Five takeaways from the Miami Heat’s 123-99 loss to the Indiana Pacers (8-31) on Saturday night at Gainbridge Fieldhouse to fall to 0-2 on its trip. The Heat (20-18) will end what turned out to be a three-game trip on Sunday against the Oklahoma City Thunder at Paycom Center (7 p.m., FanDuel Sports Network Sun) on the second night of a back-to-back set:

The Heat had its full rotation available for just the fourth time this season on Saturday and the Pacers entered with the NBA’s worst record this season. But it was the Pacers that won, and it wasn’t even close.

The Heat’s rough night began with a disastrous start, trailing 36-12 just 10 minutes into the contest.

The Heat, which was coming off a three-day break after Thursday’s game against the Bulls in Chicago was postponed “due to moisture on the floor rendering the court unplayable,” totaled just 18 points on 6 of 24 (25 percent) and 0 of 8 from three-point range in the opening period for its second-lowest scoring first quarter of the season.

“It felt like emotionally, mentally, physically, we were really ramped up and ready to play in Chicago,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “Tonight, I don’t know if I had that feeling, particularly to start this game, and they made us pay for it.

“Then we were playing from behind and in the mud the rest of the way. That’s a level of inconsistency right now — not the entire season, right now — that we have to correct to put ourselves in a better position to win.”

The Pacers expanded their lead to as large as 25 points in the second quarter before the Heat finally started to push back.

But the Heat still entered halftime in a 16-point hole.

The start of the second half was encouraging for the Heat, which cut the deficit to seven points multiple times in the third quarter.

The Heat just couldn’t pull any closer than that, as the 25-point first half hole proved to be too much to overcome.

After the Heat trimmed the deficit to seven points with 8:05 left in the third quarter, the Pacers roared back to close the period on a huge 34-14 run to enter the fourth quarter with a 27-point advantage and put the game away.

The Heat fell behind by as many as 29 points in the final minutes.

“I just think we didn’t come out fully ready to play, and then it just started snowballing after that,” Heat guard Norman Powell said.

Players throughout the Heat’s rotation struggled to make shots.

The Heat’s leading trio of Bam Adebayo, Tyler Herro and Powell combined to score just 40 points on 15-of-43 (34.9 percent) from the field and 2-of-17 (11.8 percent) from three-point range in Saturday’s loss.

Adebayo closed with 13 points on 5-of-12 shooting from the field and 0-of-2 shooting on threes, nine rebounds and two assists.

Herro finished with 21 points on 8-of-19 shooting from the field and 1-of-8 shooting from behind the arc, seven rebounds and four assists.

Powell was limited to just six points on 2-of-12 shooting from the field and 1-of-7 shooting on threes.

The Heat was held under 100 points for just the fourth time this season, finishing with just 99 points on 39.1 percent shooting from the field and 4-of-30 (13.3 percent) from three-point range. Miami also committed 19 turnovers that Indiana scored 27 points on.

The Heat’s two worst single-game offensive ratings of the season have come in the last two games — scoring 84.7 points per 100 possessions in Tuesday’s loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves and then scoring 87.6 points per 100 possessions in Saturday’s loss to the Pacers.

Andrew Nembhard was the catalyst for the Pacers, finishing with a game-high 29 points.

Not only did Saturday mark just the Pacers’ eighth win of the season, but it also represented the Pacers’ second win in the last 15 games.

Meanwhile, the Heat has now lost two straight games and three of its last four games.

“I’m more thinking about our entire team, our approach to bring a Miami Heat professional competitive spirit, which we only had sporadically tonight,” Spoelstra said. “We paid the price for it. Indiana was great. You have to give them credit. They played with force, with energy, multiple efforts. They deserve to win this game.”

The three-point shooting was a big reason for the Heat’s struggles on Saturday.

The Heat missed its first 11 threes of the night before Powell made the team’s first three of the game with 10.3 seconds left in the first half to narrowly avoid its first half without a three-point make in two years. The last time the Heat went an entire half without hitting a three came when it shot 0 of 12 from deep in the first half of a Jan. 15, 2024 over the Brooklyn Nets.

The Heat’s three-point shooting didn’t get much better in the second half, going 1 of 8 from behind the arc in the third quarter to shoot just 2 of 20 (10 percent) from three-point range through the first three quarters.

The Heat finished 4 of 30 (13.3 percent) from deep. It marks the first time that Miami has been limited to four three-point makes or fewer in a game since it made just three threes in a Feb. 5, 2018 loss to the Orlando Magic.

The Pacers outscored the Heat 51-12 from three-point range on Saturday.

“We were going one-on-three, one-on-one quite a bit before the action, and so we missed some of those,” Spoelstra said of the Heat’s inefficient three-point shooting. “Some of those were makeable shots, but guys were not in rhythm for sure, and then it just snowballed from there. I didn’t even see what our three-point percentage was, but if we’re not getting our paint attacks and fluidity, I wouldn’t expect our three-ball to go in.”

With its full rotation available, the Heat went with its new preferred starting lineup. But the results weren’t great.

The Heat opened Saturday’s contest with a lineup of Davion Mitchell, Herro, Powell, Andrew Wiggins and Adebayo. With Herro missing 30 of the Heat’s first 36 games this season, it marked just the fifth game that this group has started this season and the first time this lineup has been used since a Dec. 9 loss to the Magic.

Herro, who played off the bench in his return from a toe contusion in Tuesday’s loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves, returned to the starting lineup on Saturday in his second game back from injury.

The Heat was also set to use the Mitchell-Herro-Powell-Wiggins-Adebayo lineup to start Thursday’s game in Chicago before it was postponed.

Even in the limited time they’ve been able to play together, the Mitchell-Herro-Powell-Wiggins-Adebayo unit has actually been one of the Heat’s best lineups this season. Entering Saturday, this combination had outscored opponents by 12.7 points per 100 possessions in 73 minutes together this season.

But it wasn’t a positive night for the Heat’s starting lineup on Saturday.

This Heat lineup opened Saturday’s game by digging itself in a 17-9 hole before Spoelstra made his first substitution of the night. Two Heat starters also ran into foul trouble early on, as Michell and Wiggins were each called for two fouls within the first six minutes of the contest.

“As a starting unit, we have to come out with a better disposition, better focus to get the team off to a good start,” Herro said. “It’s unacceptable for all of us to be down 20 before the first time out almost.”

The Heat’s starting unit finished Saturday’s defeat with a plus/minus of minus 5 in 11 minutes together.

With Herro moving into the starting lineup on Saturday, second-year center Kel’el Ware played off the bench for the first time in nearly a month.

After starting in the previous 11 games, Ware played as a reserve on Saturday for the first time since the Heat’s Dec. 15 loss to the Toronto Raptors.

Ware was part of a four-man Heat bench rotation that also included Jaime Jaquez Jr., Nikola Jovic and Pelle Larsson.

Ware finished Saturday’s loss with two points and three rebounds in 17 minutes.

Dru Smith was the most notable player who was out of the Heat’s primary rotation, as he has been a fixture in the bench rotation so far this season.

But the Heat emptied its bench late in the lopsided loss, leading to Smith playing the final 11:43 of Saturday’s game.

The other available Heat players who were out of the primary rotation Saturday were Keshad Johnson, Simone Fontecchio, Kasparas Jakucionis and Myron Gardner.

The only unavailable Heat players against the Pacers were Vlad Goldin (G League), Terry Rozier (not with team) and Jahmir Young (G League).

The Pacers were without Isaiah Jackson (concussion), Bennedict Mathurin (right thumb sprain), Obi Toppin (right foot stress fracture) and Tyrese Haliburton (right Achilles tendon tear).

The Heat had beat up on inferior opponents this season before Saturday’s ugly loss to the Pacers.

The Heat entered Saturday with an impressive 13-2 record this season against teams currently with a losing record. But after Saturday’s defeat, the Heat is now 13-3 in those games.

On the other end of the spectrum, the Heat has struggled against quality teams this season. Miami is just 7-15 against teams with a winning record this season.

After losing to the team with the NBA’s worst record this season on Saturday, the Heat will take on the team with the NBA’s best record this season in the defending NBA champion Thunder on Sunday in Oklahoma City to complete the road back-to-back set.

The Thunder (32-7) were off on Saturday and are relatively healthy. The only Thunder rotation player ruled out for Sunday’s contest against the Heat is Isaiah Hartenstein, who will miss the game because of a right soleus strain.

“I don’t care who we play,” Spoelstra said. “Yeah, I want to get back out there, but we want to have a better version of ourselves in terms of mentality, passion, connectivity, all that stuff that’s put us in position to win games this year. We didn’t have that tonight.”

Heat enters with healthy rotation, but still crushed by NBA-worst Pacers. Takeaways and details

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