Four Numbers Behind the Heat's 145-125 NBA Cup Win Over the Pacers: 58, 7, 40.5 and 38.5
Bam Adebayo and Giannis Antetokounmpo combined for 58 points, Klay Thompson hit seven threes, Miami grabbed 40.5 percent of its own misses, and the Pacers shot just 38.5 percent inside the arc in the middle quarters of Friday's first Heat home win of the season.
The Miami Heat's 145-125 win over the Indiana Pacers on Friday — their first home win of the season and their opener in NBA Cup play — was, by the numbers, their best all-around performance of the young season, according to a Hot Hot Hoops analysis published Saturday. The Heat and Pacers are now tied in the East at 2-4, and the figures behind the score explain how a game that started as a shootout turned into a rout.
Start with 58: the combined points of Bam Adebayo and Giannis Antetokounmpo, in what the analysis called their best game together to date. Adebayo scored 27 points on 11-of-14 shooting with nine rebounds and three steals, while Antetokounmpo scored a game-high 31 with 18 rebounds and 10 assists — his second triple-double of the season. Add 7 — Klay Thompson's made three-pointers, on 7-of-12 shooting from deep in a 25-point night, making him the 10th Heat player in five years to hit at least seven threes in a game — and Miami's offense had three engines at once.
The other two numbers are about the glass and the defense. Miami's offensive rebound percentage was 40.5, corralling more than 40 percent of its own misses, with Adebayo and Antetokounmpo combining for 10 offensive rebounds; it was the Heat's 11th game in 10 years at a 39 percent offensive rebound rate or better, and they are 10-1 in those games. And after giving up 42 first-quarter points, Miami held Indiana to 38.5 percent shooting inside the arc across the second and third quarters, with a 97.6 defensive rating in those middle quarters — the stretch in which the game was actually won.
