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HEAT 98 - Pacers 102 Game Recap

The Miami HEAT fell to the Indiana Pacers 102-98 Sunday night at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. Hassan Whiteside led the way for the HEAT with 26 points and 21 rebounds.

1. Whiteside Dominates

To put it simply, Whiteside had a quick start to the contest and never looked back. After helping Miami narrow the gap in the second quarter with nine points and five boards, the big fella carried over his sharp play into the third. Let’s take a look at one of his more impressive plays of the night about midway through the third quarter.

With 6:29 left in the period, Whiteside went up high to grab the offensive board with C.J. Miles in the vicinity. From there, the 7-footer took a dribble, backed-down Myles Turner, absorbed contact from Miles reaching in and finished the play.

As a whole, Whiteside gave the HEAT a bunch of second-chance opportunities and tied a career high with 10 offensive boards against Indiana. Not to mention, he mixed up his offensive approach with some nifty drives and powerful dunks. In addition to his 26 points on 11-of-21 shooting and 21 rebounds, Whiteside also swatted a shot.

2. Ellington & J. Johnson Get Hot In The Fourth

While Wayne Ellington and James Johnson played pretty well through the first three quarters, the duo caught fire in the fourth. As such, they combined for 15 points and four boards in the final period.

Ellington led the team with five made threes, including one that gave Miami a 94-93 lead with 4:10 remaining in the game. Although the swingman did a lot of damage from the perimeter, he also had a nice cut and finish earlier in the fourth. Ellington finished with 19 points on 7-of-13 shooting and two assists. Johnson, meanwhile, hit some difficult shots and ended up with 14 points and four boards.

3. Waiters Gives His All

With Goran Dragić out, Dion Waiters did the best he could to try and keep things moving in the right direction. Throughout the game, Waiters collapsed the defense inside and also hit some outside shots. From mid-range jumpers off the dribble to spot-up threes, the 25-year-old did a little bit of everything.

He also had a very nice attack to the basket early on in the evening. With 8:06 to play in the first quarter, Waiters drove inside against Thaddeus Young. Once the guard got into the paint, he maneuvered between Young and Turner, absorbed contact from the center and converted the tough layup.

On the defensive end, Waiters did a great job of guarding Paul George for much of the night. In all, the former Syracuse star tallied 20 points, eight rebounds and six assists.

Other Takeaways:

-Although Josh Richardson didn’t shoot the ball as well as he’d like to, he still gave maximum effort on both ends in his 21st start of the season. In fact, the guard grabbed five offensive boards and also showed good burst on a few drives to the rim. On the flip side of the ball, the 23-year-old did a nice job against the speedy Jeff Teague before doing the same against George for most of the fourth. Richardson finished with nine points, eight rebounds and three steals.

Game Note:

-Dragić (right orbital contusion), Justise Winslow (right shoulder surgery) and Josh McRoberts (left foot stress fracture) sat out.

Looking Ahead:

-After alternating between home and road games for most of the past few weeks, the HEAT will now be at AmericanAirlines Arena for their next five matchups. The first game of the homestand will be on Wednesday against the Pelicans at 7:30 PM. Tickets for that game can be found here.