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Heat season is lost to Pacers

Originally posted on thePeachBasket | By Eric Labrador | Last updated Mar 29, 2026 11:04 PM ET

The Heat season is lost to the Pacers. Historically, the Heat have never played well in Gainebridge Fieldhouse/Conseco Fieldhouse/Market Square Arena. Coming into today’s game, the Heat needed to beat the Pacers to keep up with the Sixers and Hawks. Now with the loss, the Heat fall behind the Sixers and Hawks and possibly will play the Hornets in the play-in first round.

Key sequence in Heat-Pacers game

With the score 115-113 early in the fourth, the Heat missed five straight shots. The score was then 121-113. Bam Adebayo made a layup and then the Heat missed five more shots. Bam got an alley-oop dunk but the score was 128-117. Finally, the Heat missed four more shots afterwards. The Heat missed 23 shots out of their 28 attempts (17.5%.)

Miami is 4-6 in the last 10 games in Indiana. Each game between Miami and Indy is competitive. This season for Indiana though is “a mulligan” since Tyrese Halliburton has been out all season. The Heat as an organization are officially “in a funk” where they possibly won’t advance out of the play-in. Also, they won’t get a good draft pick.

Heat defense is bad

The Heat are 1-6 in the last seven games and during this stretch have the third-worst defensive rating in the NBA. They gave up 149 to the Cavaliers on Friday and 135 to the Pacers today. They clinched a spot in the play-in tournament but based on their currently play, their defense will help eliminate them.

Possibly theirfan base will decline as the Panthers, Hurricanes and Inter Miami soccer team will win over decisions on where to buy tickets. The Heat front office made a bad call in extending Nikola Jovic at the start of the season. Tyler Herro and Norman Powell together on the floor isn’t great defensively. As per the site Tankathon, the Heat have the 13th pick in the NBA draft.

Games this week

The Heat play the Sixers at the Kaseya Center tomorrow night. Then on Wednesday they play Boston and on Saturday, they play their final game against the Wizards. The Heat are now 2.5 games behind the Sixers for the sixth seed. They are 1.5 games behind the Magic as the Magic won the season series and the tiebreaker against Miami.

This article first appeared on thePeachBasket and was syndicated with permission.

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