Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra has been known to get the best from his teams come playoff time.
After a dreadful two-week stretch, the Heat still are about to lock down a spot in the play-in tournament as they face the Indiana Pacers at Indianapolis on Sunday afternoon.
Miami (39-35) has dropped six of its last seven games, falling to the No. 10 spot in the crowded Eastern Conference standings. After losing 149-128 to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday, the Heat trail the sixth-seeded Atlanta Hawks by just two games while trending in the wrong direction.
Spoelstra’s group has allowed 128.9 points per game across the last seven games, while the 149 scored by the Cavaliers was the most ever allowed in a game in franchise history. It came after a 120-103 victory over Cleveland on Wednesday.
“It’s extremely disappointing,” Spoelstra said. “The guys put blood, sweat and tears to develop a top-four defense two weeks ago and when we needed it the most, we let it disappear. That’s unacceptable at this time of the season.”
During Miami’s woeful seven-game run, each opponent has been in the postseason hunt. For a franchise that has made the playoffs the last six seasons, the Heat have grown accustomed to playing up to their competition level. That wasn’t the case the last half of March.
“We didn’t treat this like a playoff series and we should have,” Heat center Bam Adebayo said about back-to-back games against the Cavs. “You always want to be optimistic. The next game we need to go out and win. The recipe is holding teams under 120, 115 points. It’s going to be difficult, but our back is against the wall.”
First-time All-Star Norman Powell leads Miami with 22.1 points per game, while Tyler Herro is averaging 20.9 points in 27 games. Herro has played in seven straight games since missing most of the season with ankle and rib injuries.
Adebayo adds 20.2 points and 9.9 rebounds per contest.
For the Heat to get back on track, a victory over the lowly Pacers is key.
Indiana (16-58) owns the league’s worst record and is on pace to finish with its most losses in franchise history. The Pacers haven’t won a home game since Jan. 31 and have pieced together losing streaks of 13 and 16 games this season.
Indiana had a rare chance for a victory on Friday but squandered a 24-point lead before falling 114-113 to the Los Angeles Clippers on Kawhi Leonard’s go-ahead jumper with 0.4 seconds left.
In a bizarre ending, the Pacers had a chance to steal a win, but Jay Huff missed both free throws with 0.1 seconds remaining to finish the game.
“It’s unfortunate we weren’t able to finish it the way we would have liked to, but it’s great experience going against a team that is that athletic, that tenacious, defends that well and is playing for a lot,” Indiana head coach Rick Carlisle said. “We’ll learn from it.”
Pascal Siakam and Andrew Nembhard have shown consistency amid the team’s forgettable season, averaging 23.7 and 17.0 points per game, respectively. Nembhard has averaged 7.6 assists.
