GAME RECAP: Heat take care of Pacers without Butler and Adebayo

The Miami Heat were going to be short-handed this weekend and they knew it. Not only was Bam Adebayo out (and he will be for the foreseeable future), but also Jimmy Butler would miss this game.

That’s a lot of firepower missing against a desperate Pacers team. But it didn’t matter, because the slack was picked up by some Heat players who needed to step up. Duncan Robinson emerged from his shooting slump to score 24 points on 4/7 shooting from three and he also shot 6-7 free throws. And Kyle Lowry led the charge for Miami.

Lowry, who didn’t play in the first game against the Pacers, started hot and scored 20 first-half points. Lowry ended with 26 points and 9 assists including six 3-pointers.

The Heat pretty much had control of the entire game, although they didn’t really break away until late in the third quarter and early in the fourth. Miami was shooting the ball really well and had a great defensive game plan to naturalize the Pacers' size which normally is a big problem for them.

Miami just always had an answer for the Pacers, who lost their 4th consecutive game and fell to 9-16 on the season. The Heat used a zone defense at times that the Pacers really had a hard time getting into the paint. They settled for contested outside shots for much of that time. Unlike how other teams have eventually figured out the Heat’s zone, Indiana just couldn’t.

Without Butler, Miami needed some extra scoring and they got it from an unlikely source: Omer Yurtseven. Omer got the call to play some minutes, and although he got off to a rough start, he really found his spots and contributed great. He played the entire fourth quarter and was useful on both ends of the floor. Yurtseven had 12 points.

Tyler Herro added 18 points and every Heat played who played scored except for Udonis Haslem in his 6 first-half minutes.

The Heat beat the Pacers 113-104. They are now 14-9 on the season.

Miami plays again on Saturday night in Milwaukee against the Bucks.