At least the Indiana Pacers can’t say their defense failed them this time.
It turns out the best part of their game — their offense — did them in during their home opener Friday night against the Miami Heat.
The run-and-gun Pacers were forced to slow things down and slug it out with the Heat, and that turned out to be a bad move because the Heat knocked the Pacers around and left them staggering at the end, winning 96-83.
The loss ended a 17-game home winning streak for the Pacers against the Heat.
“I think our players are trying to get comfortable with each other,” Pacers coach Jim O’Brien said. “We certainly are not a solid basketball team right now. We will work to become one.”
Scoring typically isn’t a problem for the Pacers, but it sure was Friday. The Heat aggressively got under the Pacers and made it difficult for them to get an open shot, which usually doesn’t happen in O’Brien’s motion offense.
The Pacers (0-2) shot 37 percent from the field as a team. Danny Granger, their best offensive threat, made only 6-of-20 shots.
“I think they get under your chin and they play very aggressively,” O’Brien said. “In the first half, we missed open shots. In the second half we didn’t have good shots, which is credit to their defense.”
The Heat didn’t discriminate. They made it tough on everyone. The Pacers’ starting five shot a combined 17-of-52 from the field.
Granger had 22 points but struggled all night. He made only 3-of-12 3-pointers.
“We just didn’t make a lot of shots across the board,” Granger said. “Everybody, honestly. You won’t win like that. Putting them to the free throw line, you won’t win like that, either. I think those two aspects of the game is where we lost it.”
As he did in Wednesday’s season-opening loss at Atlanta, O’Brien turned to his bench in an attempt to bring some life to a starting unit that has looked lost playing together.
The bench, led by Dahntay Jones and Luther Head, helped the Pacers come from 17 points down in the third quarter to get as close as eight (87-79) midway through the final quarter.
Head, who is getting significant minutes in Mike Dunleavy’s absence, went through a stretch where he scored six consecutive points in the fourth quarter. He had eight of his 12 points in the final quarter.
“We’re still trying to figure each other out,” Granger said. “Honestly our defense (43.5 percent) wasn’t that bad. Offensively, I don’t think we’re really understanding each other.”
While the Pacers are still in a “feeling-out process,” Miami’s duo of Dwyane Wade and Jermaine O’Neal had no problem scoring whenever they wanted.
Wade did it from the outside, O’Neal “schooled” the Pacers’ young frontcourt on the inside.
The two combined for 54 points, including seven of their final nine points after the Pacers got to within eight late in the fourth quarter.
“In the fourth quarter, we could have broken the game open,” guard Dahntay Jones said. “We had segments where we played really good defense. It’s unfortunate we have to come from behind and fight that battle.”
Source Indystar.com
