Heat break through at home
Miami opened the season 0-4. It now has two straight wins, and this one finally came in front of its own crowd. The Heat beat the Indiana Pacers 145-125 on Friday night in the NBA Cup opener for both teams, a 20-point margin that sealed their first home victory of the year. Indiana has dropped three in a row.
Giannis Antetokounmpo did a bit of everything: 31 points, 17 rebounds and 10 assists. Bam Adebayo scored 27 with nine boards, and Klay Thompson added 25 on seven three-pointers. Pelle Larsson gave the bench 18, Davion Mitchell had 15 points and 11 assists, and Andrew Wiggins finished with 12.
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How the game turned
It started fast. Miami hit 12 of its first 15 shots and led 27-23 after an Antetokounmpo three-point play with 5:29 left in the first. Indiana answered with a flurry of threes from Jay Huff, Andrew Nembhard and Larry Nance Jr. and held a 42-36 edge after one quarter.
Quenton Jackson’s three stretched the Pacers’ lead to eight in the second. Then Miami closed the half on a 22-7 run to lead 68-61. Antetokounmpo and Nembhard each had 17 points at the break.
The third quarter belonged to Thompson. The Heat opened on a 10-0 run, and his consecutive threes pushed the margin to 21. Thompson hit two more, Bobby Portis Jr. added one, and it was 103-82 before Indiana closed the period on a 6-0 run to trail by 15. Miami outscored the Pacers 42-37 in the fourth to finish the job.
Pacers get bench scoring, not enough else
Jackson led Indiana with 24 points off the bench, and Nembhard had 22 with nine assists. Jarace Walker added 14 off the bench, Pascal Siakam and Huff had 13 apiece, and Kelly Oubre Jr. scored 10.
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