The Pacers face the Heat for a second time at home, this time with a familiar face available for Miami.
The Indiana Pacers (14-13) continue their homestand on Monday night when they host the Miami Heat (12-15) for the second time this season.
The Pacers won the first meeting at the Fieldhouse, 101-99 as they survived a big game from Tyler Herro (29 points) thanks to Andrew Nembhard announcing his defensive excellence by defending and denying Herro’s attempts to win the game late.
The Heat played that game without Jimmy Butler, but appear to be fully healthy this time around which includes having former Pacers star, Victor Oladipo available. Vic had a rough departure, no doubt, but after all of the health issues he’s been through, you have to appreciate the fact he’s made it back to the court even if he can’t tap into his trademark explosiveness all of the time. This will be VO’s first return to the Fieldhouse since being dealt almost two years ago.
The Pacers are trying to rebound from a horrible loss on Saturday to the short-handed Nets. And by rebound, I mean, literally trying to rebound after getting crushed on the glass by the Nets. Brooklyn had 29 offensive rebounds which ended up being one less than the total rebounds for the Pacers.
Looking at the Heat starting lineup, it is hard to believe this team is 12-15, but it doesn’t take long for a team to rise (or fall) in the East, so they appear to be ramping up their sense of urgency to start winning games. The Pacers will have to return to playing the same way, which they did not do in their last outing.
DraftKings Odds: Heat -3, O/U 228 (latest DraftKings odds here)
When: 7:00 p.m. ET
Where: Gainbridge Fieldhouse, Indianapolis, IN
TV: Bally Sports Indiana/Bally Sports + app
Radio: 93.5 FM/107.5 FM
Projected Starting Lineups:
Pacers: Tyrese Haliburton, Andrew Nembhard, Buddy Hield, Aaron Nesmith, Myles Turner
Heat: Kyle Lowry, Tyler Herro, Jimmy Butler, Caleb Martin, Bam Adebayo
IND: Chris Duarte – out (left ankle sprain), Daniel Theis – out (right knee surgery)
MIA: Jimmy Butler – probable (right knee injury management), Tyler Herro – probable (left ankle sprain), Victor Oladipo – probable (left knee tendinosis), Duncan Robinson – probable (left ankle sprain), Max Strus – probable (right shoulder impingement), Dewayne Dedmon – questionable (left foot plantar fasciitis), Nikola Jovic – out (G League assignment), Gabe Vincent – out (left knee effusion), Omer Yurtseven – out (left ankle surgery)
Please share your thoughts and observations on the game in the comments.