ORLANDO (REUTERS) - The Indiana Pacers earned the right to be the "home" team to begin their first-round playoff series with the Miami Heat by beating their Eastern Conference rivals 109-92 on Friday (Aug 14) in their National Basketball Association regular-season finale near Orlando.
Aaron Holiday bombed in a pair of three-pointers in a game-opening 21-7 flurry that gave Indiana (45-28) a lead for good in a match-up of teams that entered the game tied for fourth place in the East.
The Pacers and Heat (44-29) will next play in a best-of-seven play-off series, beginning Tuesday. Despite the loss, the Heat won the season series 3-1.
Indiana will enter the post-season as the fourth seed in the East, while Miami will be No. 5.
With nothing at stake other than the colour of jerseys for the play-off opener, the Pacers played without T.J. Warren, Domantas Sabonis, Victor Oladipo and Myles Turner. The Heat rested Jimmy Butler, Goran Dragic, Bam Adebayo, Jae Crowder and Andre Iguodala.
The loosely played game featured one scary and one memorable moment.
The scary moment occurred when Heat swingman Derrick Jones Jr took a hard fall in the third quarter and had to be tended to on the court for several minutes. Fearing a neck injury, he was taken off the floor on a stretcher.
The team issued a post-game statement that Jones underwent an MRI, a CT scan and a concussion test, with the conclusion being that the only injury was to his neck. He will be re-evaluated again "over the weekend," according to the Heat.
Miami coach Erik Spoelstra was hopeful Jones would not be sidelined long with the Heat set to meet the Pacers beginning Tuesday. Spoelstra said post-game: "He's already moving better. Let's wait and see before we go in full-scale panic mode."
Jones played in all eight Heat games since the restart, totalling 46 points.
A lighter scene resulted when Heat veteran Udonis Haslem connected on his first three-point basket since 2018. The 17-year veteran is now 5-for-58 from beyond the arc in his career.
Doug McDermott led the way for the Pacers with 23 points. Malcolm Brogdon, one of the few regulars who saw action in the game, added 16, while both Aaron and Justin Holiday chipped in with 11, as did Alize Johnson. JaKarr Sampson made it six players in double figures for Indiana with 10 points.
Johnson was the game's leading rebounder with a career-best 17, while T.J. McConnell accumulated a game-high eight assists.
The win was the Pacers' sixth in eight games since the NBA restart following the coronavirus hiatus.
Kendrick Nunn matched McDermott's 23-point total to share game-high scoring honours for the Heat, who lost for the fifth time in their eighth rescheduled games.
Solomon Hill added 21 points and Tyler Herro 16 for Miami, while Chris Silva grabbed a team-high 11 rebounds. Haslem finished with seven points and eight rebounds in 24 minutes.
