Pacers embarrass Heat, who need lineup and rotation changes

With 10 seconds left in the first half, Norman Powell fired a right wing three that dropped cutting the deficit to 16. Why is that important? That was their first three of the game. The team was 0 for 11 from deep before that point, as they had zero offensive flow in the half-court. Somehow that poor shooting wasn't even the worst part of that first half. The defense was atrocious to start, as the Pacers couldn't miss on their way to a 36 point first quarter. A step slow on rotations, lacking possession finishing rebounds, and rough turnovers to give Indiana easy opportunities. That sparked their team into a flurry of shot making, as Miami's physicality and rhythm appeared totally nonexistent.

2. Let's talk rotation.

When Tyler Herro made his return against the Minnesota Timberwolves, he did it coming off the bench as he ramped up. But that was never going to stick. Erik Spoelstra landed on this smaller first unit with Kel'el Ware heading to the bench, and in my personal opinion: it shouldn't stick. The Mitchell-Herro-Powell trio is just too small to hold up at the start of games, especially if the offense isn't above average. Miami went to a nine man rotation tonight with full health, leaving Dru Smith on the outside looking in. So if they're willing to shelve Smith at the moment, it seems to make more sense to push Mitchell back into that back-up guard role with that quick and young second unit. As the Heat figure out lineup stuff, leaning away from the Ware production is not the way to do it, in my personal opinion.

3. Pick and rolls are back, but should they be?

The Heat's coaching staff changed up the offensive schematics this season, which largely included no screens within the half-court offense. After a hot start to the season, it's been catching up with them as the book is pretty much out on how to stop it. But as Tyler Herro returned and Bam Adebayo continues to struggle, it felt almost impossible not to return to pick and roll basketball again. Forcing Herro to iso all night and Adebayo keep taking tough off the dribble mid range jumpers, they had to lean into it a bit. But it was more than a bit tonight in the loss. A lot of the sets looked like last year again, as the offense spiraled trying to find some type of outlet to some positive scoring. These screens and pick & rolls aren't changing the outlook of the season, but they're going to be necessary for this current personnel to try and find any type of success.

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