In Saturday night’s 144-129 victory over the Miami Heat, the Indiana Pacers overcame the absence of star scorer Tyrese Haliburton thanks to 30 points from Bruce Brown and 22 points from Obi Toppin.
The Pacers’ 66% shooting percentage is the second-best in team history. On October 24, 2017, they faced Minnesota and shot 67%. On November 23, 1988, the Los Angeles Lakers shot 64% vs Miami, which was the greatest percentage ever shot against a Heat club.
Off the bench, T.J. McConnell scored 20 points and dished out 11 assists for the Hoosiers, while Aaron Nesmith added 20 points for the Pacers.
Miami was led by 33 points by Jimmy Butler and 18 more by Caleb Martin. Miami set a new record for most points in a two-game stretch with 273 points in their 142-132 Thursday victory over the Pacers.
The Heat nevertheless managed to win all three games despite the Pacers being without Haliburton, who scored 44 points in Thursday’s game.
In addition to what the medical staff diagnosed as an upper respiratory infection, Haliburton was experiencing pain in his right knee. The non-COVID ailment, not the knee, was the reason why Haliburton did not play on Saturday, according to Pacers coach Rick Carlisle
.
The Heat were once again missing All-Star center Bam Adebayo due to a damaged left hip, while Miami lost starting forward Haywood Highsmith after only three minutes due to back spasms; Martin began the second half in his place.
Adebayo will not play in Miami’s upcoming game against Toronto on Wednesday due to the hip problem that has troubled him for a few weeks; he also did not return for the second half of Thursday’s victory. On Friday, when the Heat host Cleveland, he might make his return to action.
“Our goal is to address this issue before it escalates,” stated Erik Spoelstra, coach of the Heat. As if that weren’t hard enough, he keeps taking blows to the same location. Rest assured, we will attend to it.
