Game Rewind: Pacers 89, Heat 95

The Pacers' up-and-down season continued on Wednesday night. Indiana (13-13) fell to the Heat (9-17) in Miami, 95-89, snapping a two-game win streak. The Pacers have yet to win or lose more than two consecutive contests all season long.

The Pacers struggled to find a rhythm early on Wednesday, connecting on just 7-of-23 shots (30.4 percent) in the first quarter. But Indiana was good enough defensively to force the Heat into 10 turnovers and got to the free throw line eight times in the period, which allowed the Blue & Gold to head into the second quarter with a 21-20 lead.

The Heat moved back in front early in the second period and led for the vast majority of the period, extending the margin to as many as seven points.

The Pacers, however, strung together a 9-2 run to tie the game at 45 on Myles Turner's layup with 2:28 left in the half. They eventually retook the lead on a massive fastbreak dunk from Thaddeus Young with 21 seconds to play, but Tyler Johnson knocked down a floater on the other end as the buzzer sounded to push the Heat back in front by one heading into halftime.

Indiana struggled to contain Heat center Hassan Whiteside in the first half. The 7-footer scored 20 points over the first two quarters on 9-of-12 shooting and also collected 14 rebounds, six of them offensive.

"Whiteside basically just dominated the paint, with offensive rebounds and his scoring and his putbacks," Pacers head coach Nate McMillan said. "We really just didn't have an answer for his paint presence."

After going just 3-for-11 from the field through the first two quarters, Pacers All-Star forward Paul George heated up shortly after halftime. PG buried his first four shots in the third quarter, knocking down two 3-pointers and converting an old-fashioned three-point play to help the Blue & Gold surge back ahead.

Indiana led by as many as seven points in the third period and took a narrow 79-78 lead heading into the fourth.

But the Blue & Gold's offense went cold for a prolonged stretch, allowing the hosts to move back in front. The Pacers failed to score for a 7:03 stretch spanning the end of the third and start of the fourth quarters.

Miami managed nine points over that time, opening up a five-point lead before Aaron Brooks' jumper with 6:09 to play snapped Indiana's scoreless streak.

After George scored with 2:38 to play trimmed Miami's lead to 92-89, the Pacers had three chances to tie the game. But George missed a deep 3-pointer in transition on Indiana's first possession and Myles Turner missed a three on each of Indiana's next two trips down the court.

With the shot clock turned off after Turner's last miss, the Pacers fouled the Heat, but weren't yet in the bonus. On the ensuing inbound, Miami utilized quick passes to evade Indiana's foul attempts and eventually found Josh Richardson for an uncontested dunk that sealed the victory for the hosts.

"I thought we played a little slow in that fourth quarter," George said after the loss. "I took a couple tough looks. One particular three that I could have avoided. I thought we just played slow which kind of sped us up when it got late in the shot clock where we had to try and make plays."

George led the Pacers with 22 points in the loss, but was just 8-for-22 from the field. C.J. Miles added 15 points off the bench, going 3-for-6 from 3-point range. Turner added 11 points, seven rebounds, and five blocks.

Whiteside led all scorers with 26 points and 22 rebounds, though he converted just one field goal after halftime.

He was aided by James and Tyler Johnson, both of whom gave Miami big minutes off the bench. James Johnson finished with 14 points on 6-of-9 shooting and six assists. Tyler Johnson added 15 points, five rebounds, three assists, and four blocks.

The Pacers return to action on Thursday night in New Orleans, when they take on Anthony Davis and the Pelicans on the second night of a back-to-back.

The Pacers scored just 10 points in the fourth quarter, their lowest output in any quarter all season. Indiana went 5-for-18 from the field with six turnovers in the final frame.

The Pacers shot just 37.1 percent on the night, only the fourth time all season they have shot below 40 percent as a team.

Jeff Teague had 10 points and five assists for Indiana, but was just 3-for-9 from the field.

Rodney Stuckey had 10 points off the bench, but also struggled with his shot, going 3-for-12. Stuckey did not play in the fourth quarter due to a sore left hamstring.

The Heat won despite shooting just 56 percent from the free throw line. Miami was 14-for-25 from the charity stripe, while the Pacers went 14-for-17.

Indiana matched its season low with nine turnovers (though six came in the fourth quarter), a mark previously set on Nov. 14 against Orlando. After turning the ball over 10 times in the first quarter, the Heat committed just five giveaways themselves over the final three periods.

"We knew this team was going to come out and scrap. I thought that their pressure bothered us right from the start...They basically just muscled us and broke up our offensive execution." -McMillan

"We had some open looks...You've got to play through the contact. Shots didn't fall and I think we made bad decisions with some of our shot selections." -McMillan

"It's real frustrating. It's always frustrating when it's winnable must-win games. This is a game we should have won. It was very frustrating especially coming off the two performances that we had back home and to cap it off with a performance like this to start another road trip. -George

"I guess that's what you could expect with a Heat-Pacers game, regardless of who the faces are. It was good to see us grind out another one." -Heat coach Erik Spoelstra

"The scouting report is all about Hassan (Whiteside), so just tossing the ball into the post and waiting for the double team obviously hasn't been working, so we are trying to find new creative ways to make sure we keep him involved. At the same time we have to stay aggressive to make sure the defense honors us as well." -Tyler Johnson on getting Whiteside involved

"We want to win like that. It was not pretty. I feel like the whole game was a lot of turnovers, but when it mattered we locked down. We played awesome defense and got rebounds." -Heat point guard Goran Dragić

Led by Whiteside, the Heat dominated the Pacers on the boards on Wednesday evening. Miami outrebounded Indiana 58-38 overall and 14-6 on the offensive glass.

Indiana continues a three-game road trip on Thursday night in New Orleans against Anthony Davis and the Pelicans. Tipoff is scheduled for 8:00 PM ET. You can catch the game on FOX Sports Indiana or on 93.5 FM/AM 1070 The Fan.

The Pacers return home on Monday, Dec. 19, when they will host John Wall and the Washington Wizards at 7:00 PM ET at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. Find Tickets »

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