So far this season, no team in the NBA has played fewer home games than Miami Heat.
But during the last 25 games, Heat will be home for 17 of them, including Friday night when they are set to host Indiana Pacers.
“It felt like we haven’t played here forever,” said Heat coach Erik Spoelstra after Miami beat the visitors Atlanta Hawks 131-109 on Wednesday.
“But it’s set for a really fun March. None of it is guaranteed just because we’re home, but it can be a lot of fun.”
If the season ended now, Pacers would be in the playoffs as the fourth seed from the Eastern Conference. The heat sits on eighth place-good for a Play-in game-and five games of the last guaranteed playoffs behind the surprising Detroit pistons.
Spoelstra warned that the heat-only 13-11 at home this season-not may be too keen to compensate for the lost ground.
“We can’t get all these winnings in one night,” Spoelstra said.
However, it helps that the heat has a tough minded center in Bam Adebayo, as an average of 16.9 points and a team high 10 returns. He played Wednesday against the hawks despite calf and back injuries and got 20 points and pulled down nine returns.
“Bam was opened, but it shows how much he wants this,” Spoelstra said. “He was a natural force with his physical, effort, voice, spirit – all this.
“There are many guys who would have put out with their backs (injury) or the calf, but we felt this was a must-win (game).”
The game against Pacers is also great, and Heat Guard Davion Mitchell is excited. On Wednesday he may have played his best game in his short service with heat and scored 20 points.
“It’s very important,” Mitchell said when asked about the Pacers game. “We will need the fans. We need everyone’s support.”
Mitchell shares backcourt with Tyler Herro, who leads the heat in points (24 points) and assists (5.7).
At the same time, Pacers will enter a home victory on Wednesday and beats Toronto Raptors 111-91.
Pacers Point Guard Tyrese Haliburton had a spectacular performance with play heights in points (33) and assists (11). He also had a gaming high three steals, and he shot 12 out of 15 from the floor and 7 out of 9 on 3 points.
Pacers, who has won two of three matches against Miami this season, has damage to damage to the competition on Friday.
Backup Point Guard TJ McConnell has missed two straight matches due to a justified right ankle.
When healthy, McConnell usually sparks Indiana’s second unit, an average of 9.8 points and 4.5 assists. He has the ability to enter the lane and injury, as evidenced by his 54.4 shooting percentage on two pointer.
If McConnell is out, Pacers will rely even more on his starting unit – Haliburton, Myles Turner, Pascal Siakam, Aaron Nesmith; and Andrew Nembhard.
Siakam leads pacers in points (20.3) and rebounds (7.3). Turner is an average of 15.4 points, 6.6 returns and a team high 1.9 blocks.
Then there are Haliburton, which on average were more than 20 points and more than 10 assists during each of the last two seasons, and earned all-Star awards in each. This season his number has decreased (18.4 points, 8.7 assists).
“There has been a lot of unnecessary pressure on Tyrese,” Turner said Wednesday. “He took his licks at the beginning of the season when everyone talked crazy about him. He has the weather out the storm.
“When he gets hot it’s a fun night.”
-Field level media
