Pacers, Haliburton get right in Miami, will try again back home against Suns
The Pacers showed up strong against a discombobulated Heat team to post another road win.
The Pacers and for that matter, Tyrese Haliburton’s roller coaster season provided more thrills in Miami on Thursday when the good guys beat the Heat, 128-115. The Pacers were good from the tip, giving up the first two points and then scoring 12 straight points and never letting go of the rope the rest of the way.
While the Pacers forced the Bucks into a zone defense on New Year’s Eve, which flipped the game in Milwaukee’s favor and ultimately flipped a big lead for the Pacers into a six-point loss, the Pacers actually forced the Heat out of their zone defense early. With Myles Turner making himself available in the middle of the zone and Haliburton simply ablaze, the Pacers had no problem chewing up and spitting out the zone effort from Miami.
Haliburton was indeed thrilling, aggressive in his effort to both find his own buckets AND find teammates for theirs, finishing the game with 35 points and 15 assists while not turning the ball over once. After the game, Haliburton credited a conversation with Rick Carlisle on the plane about what he can do better as helping him get seemingly fragile mind set back in the right spot.
Haliburton’s monster night had the Basketball-Reference Stathead scorigami stat hunters working hard. ESPN posted a tweet crediting Haliburton as the first player to score at least 30 points with at least 15 assists and 0 turnovers in multiple games since turnovers started being tracked in 1977. Haliburton also had 33, 15 and 0 at Philly early last season. Five other players have done it once: LeBron James, John Stockton, Nikola Jokic, Chris Paul, James Harden.
Solid company.
The NBA History twitter feed altered the scorigami search to include 5 made three-pointers, finding Haliburton is the only player to have at least 30 points, 15 assists, 0 turnovers and 5 threes. And he’s done it twice.
So, yeah, this game from Haliburton was a far cry from his 4 points, 8 assists, 1 turnover and 0 threes performance against OKC last week. The game also came after All-Star voting results revealed that Haliburton was not in the top 10 in voting among Eastern Conference guards.
As for Miami, the Pacers caught them at an ideal time. It was often hard to notice Jimmy Butler on the court. Butler wants out and Pat Riley would prefer his highest paid player just earn his money. After the game, Butler lit the situation on fire, likely for good by saying he won’t find his hoops joy on the court, again in Miami. A day later, the team suspended Butler and appears to be ready to “Tinsley” Butler if they don’t deal him. That’s not good for the Heat, but they are better off playing without Butler than playing with the Butler we saw against the Pacers.
The Pacers took advantage with only eight turnovers for the whole game, which Carlisle mentioned after the game essentially saying that turnover number should not be celebrated but expected. Fair point. Myles Turner had 21 points while helping bust of the Heat zone. Pascal Siakam had 18 points and 11 rebounds as the non-roller coaster contributor all season for the Pacers. Jarace Walker knocked down a trio of 3-balls and finished with 12 points off the bench, as did Obi Toppin.
Former IU big man, Kel’el Ware had an impressive outing, scoring 25 points on 11 shots, including 3 of 4 from 3-land, almost single-handedly trying to keep the Heat hopes alive in the second half. Ware has been up and down in the G-League, so good to see him find a rhythm with the big club.
Road Warriors?
Remember when Haliburton and the Pacers were struggling on the road, including losing eight consecutive away from the Fieldhouse? That was a real thing in November and now the roller coaster of results has done a corkscrew or two. The Pacers are 7-1 in their last eight road games, with the Boston blowout as the only loss. On the other hand, the Pacers are 1-4 in their last five home games which were quite infrequent in December.
Now the Thunder and Bucks are a challenge for the Pacers regardless of where they play and now the Pacers host the Suns who the Pacers beat 120-111 in Phoenix as part of their road turnaround. With Kevin Durant and Devin Booker, the Suns are always a threat to go off despite arriving at the Fieldhouse on a three-game losing streak.
For the Pacers, trying to get off the roller coaster and find consistent success remains a New Year’s resolution.
Pacers vs. Suns
Where: Gainbridge Fieldhouse, Indianapolis, IN
When: Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025, 7:00 p.m. ET
TV: FanDuel Sports Network
Radio: 93.5/107.5 The Fan
Odds: Pacers -2
Projected Starters
Pacers: Tyrese Haliburton, Andrew Nembhard, Bennedict Mathurin, Pascal Siakam, Myles Turner
Suns: Tyus Jones, Devin Booker, Bradley Beal, Kevin Durant, Mason Plumlee
Injuries
Pacers: Aaron Nesmith (ankle) - out, James Wiseman (Achilles) - out, Isaiah Jackson (Achilles) - out
Suns: Bradley Beal (hip) - questionable, Jusuf Nurkic (suspended) - out, Royce O’Neale (ankle) - out