Pascal Siakam's Career Performance Not Enough for Pacers vs. Heat

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Jonah Kubicek | Last updated Mar 1, 2025 2:15 PM ET

On Friday night, the Indiana Pacers lost to the Miami Heat in a back-and-forth game, falling 125-120. With the loss, Indiana fell to fifth place in the Eastern Conference, swapping spots with the Milwaukee Bucks, who currently own the tie-breaker against the Pacers.

Indiana may have lost home-court advantage, but they are still five games ahead of Miami in the standings, meaning they won't have to participate in the Play-In Tournament and can make the postseason outright, barring a disaterous final stretch of games.

Against Miami, Pascal Siakam went off for 36 points, draining eight of his 11 shots from behind the arc. Eight made 3s for Siakam, who set a new high, and he added six rebounds, two assists, and two steals for good measure.

Meanwhile, the Heat were led by 29 points from Tyler Herro on much worse shooting efficiency, although Herro had plenty of help from the rest of the Heat's supporting cast. On top of that, Miami outrebounded Indiana 39-30, although both teams shot 53 percent from deep.

All season long, the NBA has dealt with criticisms that teams only take 3-point shots now. While 3-point shooting has increased over the last several years, the Pacers' game against the Heat demonstrated the effectiveness of 3s, with both teams raining them in from deep.

That said, by spacing the floor, both teams made room down low for easy buckets. Both Bam Adebayo and Kel'el Ware had efficient games for the Heat, and Tyrese Haliburton went 5-10 inside the arc.

With the Bucks playing the Dallas Mavericks on Saturday and the Pacers playing the Chicago Bulls on Sunday, there is a strong chance Indiana can re-gain fourth place in the East before the weekend is over.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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