Pascal Siakam had 30 points, 11 rebounds and six assists on Sunday to lead the Indiana Pacers to a 135-118 victory over the visiting Miami Heat.
Micah Potter scored 21 points on five made 3-pointers, Kobe Brown added 18 points, and Andrew Nembhard tallied 15 points and 10 assists for the Pacers (17-58), who earned their first home win since Jan. 31. T.J. McConnell added 15 points and Obi Toppin finished with 12.
Miami (39-36) was led by Tyler Herro’s 31 points, followed by Jaime Jaquez Jr.’s 17. Bam Adebayo had 15 points and 12 rebounds for the Heat, who dropped their seventh game in eight tries. Andrew Wiggins and Pelle Larsson each had 15 in the loss.
Trailing by four at half, Miami opened the third quarter on a 9-2 run to take an 84-81 lead on Larsson’s layup.
Toppin’s basket and Brown’s 3-pointer put the Pacers ahead by a point, forcing Miami’s timeout with 1:36 left in the third. Brown drained a triple with five seconds remaining, giving the Pacers a 108-107 lead entering the fourth.
The margin ballooned to eight on Nembhard’s layup at the 6:01 mark. After Adebayo’s layup, Jay Huff’s floater started a 7-0 run, extending the Pacers’ lead to 128-115 with three minutes left.
Potter connected on four 3-pointers in the first quarter and scored 14 points, while Herro netted 16 first-quarter points for Miami, which took a 36-34 lead into the second after Jaquez’s buzzer-beating 3-pointer.
Indiana grabbed its first two-possession lead at the 8:31 mark of the second quarter, as Siakam’s layup gave the Pacers a 48-43 edge. Siakam netted back-to-back 3-pointers to give Indiana a 59-52 lead.
The Pacers took their first double-digit lead, 72-62, on Potter’s fifth triple with 2:55 left in the first half. After Ethan Thompson’s 3-pointer put Indiana ahead by seven, Jacquez closed the opening half with a trey to cut the Heat’s halftime deficit to 79-75.
–Field Level Media
