The Miami Heat find themselves in a good place as they now lead the Indiana Pacers 2-0 in this first-round playoff series after a 109-100 win Thursday afternoon. The Heat started the game strong, behind Duncan Robinson’s three straight 3-pointers, and apart from a tightly contested first quarter, where both teams went back and forth with the lead, Miami controlled the majority of this game. Robinson’s seven made the 3’s franchise record for most 3-pointers (7) in a playoff game, raising his profile as one of the league’s top 3 shooters in the league. Robinson also made NBA history by playing seven or more 3s without taking a single 2-pointer in a playoff game.
In addition to Robinson’s score, the Heat found contribution elsewhere as All-Star forward Bam Adebayo had an unusually quiet game, mainly due to early foul problems that kept him out of much of the first half. The Heat got great performances from Goran Dragic – who started again in place of rookie Kendrick Nunn. The Slovenian goalkeeper finished with 20 points and six assists, on top of Jimmy Butler’s performance with 18 points, six assists, five rebounds, two steals. The Pacers tried to keep up with the hot shooting from Heat, but simply did not have the staff to pull it off. Victor Oladipo led Indiana in the score with 22 points, but again it was not his typical All-Star, dominant performance we have seen him produce.
The Heat now lead the series 2-0, with Game 3 set to take place on Saturday. Here are three takeaways from Miami’s win over Indiana.
1. Robinson may never miss a shot again
Here are some numbers from Game 2 on Robinson: 24 points, 7 for 8 from 3-point range and a plus-9 to end the game. Robinson tied the Heat record for most 3s made in a playoff game, and started Game 2 on absolute fire. It’s strange because you would think Indiana would have studied some gameplay on Robinson, considering he is fourth in the league in 3-point percentage, and against the Pacers this season he shoots 41.2 percent of deep. But no, Indiana went with the same game plan it had in Game 1, which basically left him open on the wing and forced him to make shots. What a terrible idea. Yes, Robinson shot just 25 percent of the long range on Tuesday, resulting in just six points in Game 1, but trust him he has a terrible shooting night like that again just playing with fire (pun intended).
Instead of balling Robinson 3s with air and clocking them from the edge like in Game 1, he went 3 for 3 from deep – Miami’s first three shots of the game – and was hit shot-to-shot as they it was necessary. Since arriving in Orlando, Robinson has shot 43 percent from outside the arc, and those performances Thursday revealed that Game 1 was just an abnormal performance from him. He won’t get that hot this afternoon, but he has certainly shown Indiana that it just can’t turn a defender on him, otherwise he will score 20 points if given the space.
2. Miami able to overcome Adebayo’s fierce problems
Due to two early fouls in the first quarter, Miami’s do-it-all-point Miami was significantly limited in the first half. In fact, Adebayo finished the first half with zero points and only one attempt. Compared to Game 1’s 17-point, 10-rebound, six-assist performance for Adebayo – and his game all season long – Thursday was an atypical outing for him. However, the depth of Miami made it so that Adebayo’s lack of contribution to offense did not mean much.
In addition to Robinson’s great play, the Heat achieved a vintage Goran Dragic performance in the form of 20 points, six assists and three handballs. It saw the Dragic of old: the cunning, cunning guard who knew how to manipulate the defense to get a foul call, or slip through defenders to the rim. It’s his authority, mixed with his postseason experience, that made head coach Erik Spoelstra agree to go with rookie guard Kendrick Nunn, Miami’s starting point guard all season. So far, it has paid off, as Dragic is averaging 22 points and five assists in the Heat’s two postseason games.
While Dragic’s contribution has been a pleasant surprise for Miami, which was not at all surprising, Jimmy Butler’s game is about to start the postseason. In Game 1, it was his performance in the stretch, where he put up 10 points in the fourth quarter to secure the win for the Heat. In Thursday’s award, Butler realized something that took him quite a while to do in the regular season. In the first two postseason games, Jimmy Buckets scored four 3s; he had so many made 3-pointers in the last 23 games of the regular season. Butler’s low shooting average has been a storyline all season, but he’s been much more efficient so far, which should be an encouraging sight for the Heat, especially in Game 2 when they could not bank on Adebayo to set up his typical share of the offensive load.
Pacers tried to get a 3-point shootout with the wrong team
The Indiana Pacers ranked 30th in the league in 3-point attempts (28), but still decided it was a good idea to get into a 3-point shootout with a team that is second in the league in 3-point percentage (37.9). It did not go well. The Heat shot 51.4 percent from 3-point range on 35 attempts in Game 2, while the Pacers scored 34 3s and shot 35 percent from the field. That would not be a terrible performance against an average shooting team, but Miami has established itself this season as a team that will ride and kick on almost every play, and has a variety of shooters on the wing to hit shots. Indiana can not get into a shootout with Miami advancing in this series because that is not their game. Victor Oladipo shot 11 3-pointers on Thursday, and although he shot 36 percent from deep, it served the Pacers better for him to drive to the course and get points that way.
Indiana in an uphill battle now Miami is up 2-0, but the NBA bubble has proven that anything can happen in the offseason, and a change in game plan could turn the tide for the Pacers to come back in this series.
