It’s set: Miami Heat to face Indiana Pacers in first round of 2020 NBA playoffs
Two of the Miami Heat’s final three seeding games come against the Indiana Pacers, and that’s not all.
Indiana defeated the Houston Rockets on Wednesday, locking in a best-of-7 first-round Eastern Conference No. 4 vs. No. 5 seed playoff series between the Heat and Pacers that begins either Monday or Tuesday at Disney’s Wide World of Sports Complex. Including their two matchups during seeding play this week, Miami and Indiana could face off as many as nine times in a span of 10 games.
The Heat and Pacers will see each other again before their playoff series begins next week, as the two teams also face off Friday at 4 p.m. to close seeding play.
It’s still undetermined which team will enter the playoffs as the No. 4 seed. But Miami could clinch the No. 4 spot in the East with a win over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday night.
However, there’s essentially no difference between entering the playoffs as the No. 4 or No. 5 seed because they play each other and there is no real home-court advantage in the bubble, other than the fourth-place team playing more games with its virtual fans on the screens surrounding the Disney court.
In addition, the No. 4 and No. 5 seeds are locked into the half of the East bracket that includes the top-seeded Milwaukee Bucks. The winner of the Heat-Pacers series will play the winner of the first-round series between the No. 1 Bucks and the No. 8 Orlando Magic in the second round.
If the regular season is any indication, Miami should enter the playoffs as the favorite in its opening-round matchup against Indiana. The Heat has defeated the Pacers in each of the teams’ first three matchups this season, including a 114-92 blowout win over Indiana on Monday during seeding play.
The Heat also earned a 113-112 win over the Pacers on Dec. 27 at AmericanAirlines Arena in a game that included 20 lead changes and eight ties. With the Heat trailing by one with less than a minute to play, guard Goran Dragic made a nine-foot game-winning floater with 6.8 seconds remaining.
In the teams’ second matchup of the season, the Heat defeated the Pacers 122-108 on Jan. 8 at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. Miami led by as many as 31 points in the victory.
The Pacers have been without All-Star center Domantas Sabonis throughout their seeding schedule because of plantar fasciitis in his left foot. And Indiana coach Nate McMillan said after Wednesday’s win that forward T.J. Warren, who missed the victory over the Rockets but played in the Pacers’ first six seeding games, is also dealing with plantar fasciitis in his right foot.
But ESPN reported Wednesday night that Warren’s foot injury is “not serious” and he is expected to be ready for the start of the playoffs.
One of the big story lines surrounding the Heat-Pacers playoff series is the Jimmy Butler vs. Warren matchup that grew contentious and ended with Warren’s ejection when the two teams met in January. Butler and Warren were involved in several confrontations that included a middle finger from Warren directed at Butler and then Butler blowing a kiss goodbye as Warren walked off the floor following his ejection.
“He’s soft. He’s not even in my [expletive] league, nowhere near me,” Butler said of Warren after that January game. “If I was their coach, I would never put him on me ever again. Put somebody else on me, because I’m going to tear his [expletive] up every game.”
Monday’s game marked the first time Butler and Warren have faced off since that heated matchup, and there were no technicals or confrontations this time. But Butler earned the win and turned in the better performance with 19 points, 11 rebounds, five assists, one block and four steals to Warren’s 12 points on 5-of-14 shooting.
This isn’t the first time the Heat and Pacers have met in the playoffs. This season’s first-round series marks the fifth time the two teams have matched up in the postseason (2004, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2020), with Miami eliminating Indiana in three of their previous four playoff meetings.
But it has been a while since the Heat has won a postseason series, as Miami last won a playoff series in 2016 when it eliminated the Charlotte Hornets in the first round. The Heat made the playoffs this year for the third time in six seasons.
All four of the East’s first-round playoff matchups are now set: No. 1 Bucks vs. No. 8 Magic, No. 2 Toronto Raptors vs. No. 7 Brooklyn Nets, No. 3 Boston Celtics vs. No. 6 Philadelphia 76ers, and No. 4/5 Heat vs. No. 4/5 Pacers.
This story was originally published August 12, 2020 at 6:28 PM.
