Observations and other notes of interest from Friday night’s 124-111 victory over the Indiana Pacers:
— Who was that masked man?
— Well, actually, those masked men?
— The difference is Jimmy Butler, sidelined again by his ankle sprain, was wearing a mask on the bench in solidarity.
— Nikola Jovic was wearing it out of necessity.
— And put together his best half of the season over Friday night’s opening two periods.
— Requiring the additional protection after breaking his nose in a blood mess in the first quarter of Tuesday night’s overtime loss in Detroit, Jovic arguably was as aggressive as he has been all season in the first half.
— Arguably even more so.
— Uncertain of the fit of the specially molded protection, Jovic fiddled with it in the pregame locker room.
— The 6-foot-10 first-round pick in 2022 then played as if he had no concern in the world.
— For as much as he struggled as a starter, Jovic’s versatility paid dividends off the bench.
— From there, Kevin Love took over with his offense at the start of the second half.
— Love-followed-by-Jovic seems like the way to go going forward.
— Even when Butler returns.
— Which could be as soon as Sunday.
— Butler will be back without a mask for that one.
— But after this one, the question is whether Jovic can be convinced to eventually part with his empowering protection.
— With Butler again out, the Heat opened for a third consecutive game with a lineup of Love, Bam Adebayo, Haywood Highsmith, Tyler Herro and Terry Rozier.
— The game was Adebayo’s 500th career regular-season appearance.
— Jaime Jaquez Jr. again played as Heat sixth man, entering for Love.
— With Kel’el Ware then again the first Heat big man off the bench.
— And then Josh Richardson and Duncan Robinson..
— Asked pregame about Richardson’s role to this stage, which has largely been limited, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said, “Well, he’s out there playing, that’s a good thing. The game will dictate.”
— Richardson was sidelined the second half of last season and through most of the offseason following shoulder surgery,
— Spoelstra added, “It’s not like Josh is a new player to us. We know what brings. I know what he brings. His teammates know what he brings.”
— Nikola Jovic and the mask to protect his broken nose then made it 10 deep.
— That had Pelle Larsson out of the rotation mix.
— Herro extended his streak of scoring in double figures to 41 dating to last season. His previous longest such streak had been 38 games in 2021-22.
— Herro extended his streak of games with at least one 3-pointer to 50, three games off the longest such streak of his career.
— Herro also now has converted multiple 3-pointers in every game this season.
— Again going against Rick Carlisle, Spoelstra before the game reflected on playing, and losing to, Carlisle’s Mavericks in the 2010 NBA Finals, in the first Big Three season with LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.
— “I can’t believe how long ago that was,” Spoelstra said. “But that series made that group just a whole lot better. We had a lot of time to reflect on everything and figure out what we needed to do better.”
— And then there was Carlisle speaking pregame about his team’s uneven start.
— “It’s been tough,” he said. “Everybody’s going through tough stretches right now. We’ve got to stay energetic and enthusiastic.”
— For all of the Heat’s defensive issues, Adebayo said it starts on the defensive glass.
— “Limit second-chance points, that’s really the thing,” he said ahead of Friday night’s game. “We get them to take a tough shot, they miss it and they get a relief basket – we don’t box out, or we miss a box out, we fall asleep.”
— He added, “You change that, I feel like we’re a top-five defense.”
— Although not the breakneck team they were last season, Spoelstra went in with ample concern about the Pacers’ pace.
— “You still have to expect the pace they play with, the pitch aheads, the fastbreaks, the early offense,” he said. “So much of it is generated with Haliburton. He has a great way of getting people involved, the court vision, getting off the ball early.”
— As in Tyrese Haliburton, who Spoelstra helped coach to Paris Olympic gold as a Team USA assistant to Steve Kerr.
— “He reads defenses really well,” Spoelstra said. “He can dominate a game without scoring. He can also dominate a game by having to score.”
— With Myles Turner in his 10th season, only Reggie Miller (18), Jeff Foster (13), Rik Smith (12) and Vern Fleming (11) have played more with the Pacers during their NBA era.
— The game marked the first of three times the Heat will play the same opponent in consecutive games this season, with the teams also to play Sunday on the Pacers’ court.
— The other two instances will be split between one game on the road and one game at home (vs. Toronto on Nov. 29 and at Toronto on Dec. 1; and at Atlanta on Feb. 24 and vs. Atlanta on Feb. 26).
Originally Published: