The Miami Heat will look to snap out of their recent slump, while the host Indiana Pacers aim to inject some energy into their offense in Friday’s NBA Cup group-play game in Indianapolis.
The Heat are 0-1 in NBA Cup East Group B play, while the Pacers will be playing their first game in the in-season competition that concludes next month.
Having lost four of their past five games, the Heat might be without Jimmy Butler, who injured his ankle in Friday’s loss to the Denver Nuggets and has missed the past two games. Butler did not participate in practice on Thursday.
Miami’s Tyler Herro has been doing his best to keep the team afloat, notching his second career 40-point game against the Detroit Pistons on Tuesday. Unfortunately, a coaching error by Erik Spoelstra in the final seconds led to a puzzling loss.
Spoelstra called a timeout when the Heat were out of them after the Pistons tied the game with 1.1 seconds remaining in overtime. This technical foul allowed Detroit to make a go-ahead free throw, resulting in a 123-121 loss.
The defeat left the Heat two games below .500 and Spoelstra despondent after the game.
The Pacers, on the other hand, were unable to build on a 132-121 home win over the New York Knicks on Sunday, losing 94-90 to the Orlando Magic on Wednesday. They also scored only 83 points in a road loss to the Charlotte Hornets on Friday.
Indiana’s Bennedict Mathurin led the Pacers with a career-high 38 points in the win over the Knicks, boosting his season average to 19.7 points per game. Pascal Siakam leads the team with 20.5 points per game.
The Pacers struggled with a rough shooting night from Tyrese Haliburton against the Magic on Wednesday. Haliburton scored nine points on 3-of-14 shooting (21.4 percent), including 2 of 8 from 3-point range.
Despite a 35-point, 14-assist performance against the Knicks sandwiched between two poor shooting games, Haliburton is averaging 16 points per game, just behind Myles Turner’s 16.8 points per game. Haliburton also leads the team with 8.5 assists, though both his scoring and assist averages are down from last year.
The Pacers have faced a challenging schedule to start the season, with many games against playoff teams from last year.
For the Heat, Herro is averaging a career-high 24.9 points to lead the team, trailing only Bam Adebayo in minutes per game at 33.5. Herro also averages 5.2 rebounds and 5.3 assists.
Butler is second on the team with 16.1 points per game, having played in eight of the team’s 10 contests, while Adebayo is averaging 15.3 points and 9.1 rebounds.
