Heat Snap Two-Game Losing Streak and Beat Pacers 116-111, Adebayo Scores 38

February 8th, 2023 — Bam Adebayo, Miami’s All-Star center tied his season high with 38 points, Jimmy Butler netted 25 and the Heat raced past the Indiana Pacers 116-111 on Wednesday night to snap a two-game losing streak. The Heat’s first two-game slide since December.

“Bam, obviously, was really good on both ends of the court,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said.

Gabe Vincent scored 17 points, Tyler Herro chipped in 15 of his own while Caleb Martin finished with 12 points and 11 rebounds for the Heat.

Buddy Hield scored 29 points for Indiana, a team that is currently reeling after losing 13 of their last 15 games. Myles Turner had 23 points and 11 rebounds, in addition to T.J. McConnell scoring 18 points.

Tyrese Haliburton had 10 assists for the Pacers, but a Heat defense led by Jimmy Butler held him to 11 points. Haliburton’s 3-pointer with 10.5 seconds left would push Indiana within a three point deficit, but Adebayo sealed the win for the Heat with a pair of free throws.

“Miami has a deserved, an earned reputation as a hard-playing team, a team that always responds to previous losses,” Indiana Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said.

The Heat and Pacers split their four-game regular-season series, none of the games this season were decided by more than five points. The combined score of the season series now, Heat 410, Pacers 405.

It was Adebayo’s tenth 30-point performance of the season, matching the total of all other Heat players combined — Jimmy Butler has five, Tyler Herro with four and Max Strus has one.

“He’s found a great balance,” Jimmy Butler said. “If you’ve got the hot hand, you’ve got to keep feeding that individual. And a lot of nights, it’s Bam. You’ve got to ride that wave sometimes.”

Adebayo is now the sixth player in Heat history to have at least 10 games of 30 points or more scored in the same season, and nobody had accomplished that feat since LeBron James. James recorded 31 such games for Miami during the 2013-14 NBA regular season. — James is now the NBA’s career scoring leader after eclipsing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s prior record on Tuesday evening.