Indiana Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle expects to face a lot of zone defense when his team visits Miami to play the Heat on Thursday night.
Carlisle said the Pacers were “abysmal” in the final quarter-and-a-half against Milwaukee’s zone defense in their 120-112 loss on Tuesday. The Pacers had a 19-point lead in the third quarter before falling apart, which gave the Heat a good idea of how to beat Indiana.
“Games aren’t 30 minutes long,” Carlisle said. “The last 18 (minutes) were abysmal. We all own it. We lost our aggression, we lost everything that got us a pretty significant lead, and gave them a great opportunity, not only to get back in the game, but to win the game. We’re going to have to learn some hard lessons from this and get ready to bounce back.
“Miami plays more zone than anybody in the league, so I’m sure that will get their attention as well.”
Bennedict Mathurin led Indiana with 25 points, while Pascal Siakam added 20.
The Pacers struggled to get stops as the game went on, which allowed the Bucks to set up their defense. After making 11 of 27 three-pointers in the first three quarters, Indiana shot just 2 of 10 in the fourth.
“We settled for outside shots,” Carlisle said. “We didn’t attack it (Milwaukee’s zone) well, obviously. We weren’t defending well, either. Poor defense allows teams to score and get into zones, so it was the double-whammy.”
Indiana and Miami split their two games in Indianapolis earlier this season, both in November.
Miami’s defense was solid, and their offense ran smoothly in a 119-108 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans on Wednesday, starting a three-game homestand for the Heat.
Jimmy Butler, who had been part of trade rumors recently, returned after missing five games due to a stomach illness. He played 24 minutes in his usual starting role and scored nine points.
Tyler Herro led the Heat with 32 points.
“He is continuing to gain confidence offensively,” said Heat coach Erik Spoelstra. “He has (the) responsibility to make a lot of plays for us offensively. He does it in a lot of different ways. Sometimes he’s facilitating and playing off the ball, letting other guys create. Then the ball will find him. But one way or another, we want him to put his imprint on things offensively.”
Bam Adebayo nearly had his second triple-double of the season, finishing with 23 points, 10 assists, and 9 rebounds.
The Heat had excellent ball movement, recording 34 assists on 44 made shots, with Adebayo leading the way.
“You certainly want to build some kind of offensive continuity where everybody feels like they’re involved, everybody feels like they’re who they want to be and they feel like they can impact the game offensively,” Spoelstra said.
“You have to share the ball and do little things — screen assists, sometimes it’s the pass that actually doesn’t count as an assist. Then of course the ball has to go in.
“That makes a lot of things look better.”
