On Sunday evening, head coach Erik Spoelstra and the Miami Heat lost a game they really couldn’t afford to drop with a narrow 117-115 road defeat at the hands of the Indiana Pacers, one of the teams they are desperately trying to catch in the vaunted Eastern Conference playoff picture. The Heat had three twenty point scorers in this one, including Jimmy Butler, Caleb Martin, and recently-returned from injury Tyler Herro, but Spoelstra’s squad wasn’t able to get enough stops down the stretch against a Pacers squad that took a giant step toward securing themselves a playoff spot with their home win on Sunday.

One of the key reasons for the loss for the Heat was the fact that Miami put itself behind the eight ball early in this one, eventually falling behind by a score of 38-24 at the end of the first period and having to claw their way from behind the whole rest of the way.

After the game, Spoelstra broke down how that slow start out of the gates was partially to blame for the crushing loss.

“It certainly makes it tougher,” said Spoelstra about the Heat falling behind early, per Bally Sports Sun: Heat on X, the social media platform formerly referred to as Twitter. “Games are 48 minutes, so there’s going to be back and forth, particularly two teams that are pretty evenly matched, but they were definitely the assertive ones, the ones that were playing on their terms in the first half, and that did get us in a hole in the second half. Everything wasn’t perfect for us but a level of effort, toughness, disposition, all of that, went through to our standards, and it has to be every single possession obviously. That’s what’s disappointing because we have great habits of playing consistently and doing it hard.”

Spoelstra went on to shower the Pacers with praises.

“You have to credit Indiana at the same time,” said Spoelstra. “They’re a dynamic offensive team that can get you moving and shifting and confused at the pace that they do things, and their bench was outstanding, led by (TJ) McConnell again tonight.”

A frustrating result for the Heat

A win would have given the Heat a real chance of securing a top six seed in the Eastern Conference playoff picture, meaning they would be able to avoid the dreaded Play-In round situation, where they would have two chances to win one game to secure their spot in the playoffs. Instead, Miami will now need to not only win the rest of their games (which is of course no guarantee) but will also need a ton of help from some other squads in order for that scenario to occur, meaning another Play-In game appearance is likely on the horizon.

Of course, that worked out well for the Heat last season, as the Heat staved off elimination after dropping their first Play-In game and then bulldozed their way shockingly all the way to the NBA Finals, where they finally bowed out to the Denver Nuggets.