MIAMI — If only the games weren’t 48 minutes, this 2024-25 exercise would be a whole lot easier for Erik Spoelstra and his Miami Heat.

Instead, a blown 12-point fourth-quarter lead and yet another frantic finish for a team that hasn’t met a late lead it couldn’t make disappear.

Through it all, on a night of rotation swings almost as wild as the score swings, the Heat found a way to a 125-120 victory Friday night over the Indiana Pacers at Kaseya Center.

No, that 12-point lead did not hold up, with Indiana moving back ahead later in the fourth quarter, but with Tyler Herro scoring 29 the Heat were able to make it a pair of consecutive victories to open this four-game homestand that continues Sunday against an even greater challenge in the New York Knicks.

On a night Andrew Wiggins was not available due to an ankle sprain, a night Jaime Jaquez Jr. started but was lost to an ankle injury of his own, a night Kel’el Ware was benched at the start of the second half and Terry Rozier was brought out of the deep freeze, it ultimately led to another frantic Heat finish.

“There’s clarity in where we are right now and it’s all hands on deck,” Spoelstra said. “We need our X-factors.”

Ultimately it was decided by a Davion Mitchell go-ahead 3-pointer with 43.8 seconds to play.

“I kind of knew maybe they would leave me open the way Tyler was going,” said Mitchell, now 7 of 7 on 3-pointers over the past two games. “It was an easy shot from there.”

Beyond Herro’s 29 points, the Heat got 18 points, seven assists and seven rebounds from Bam Adebayo and 20 points from Duncan Robinson to help offset 36 points from Indiana’s Pascal Siakam and end the season series tied 2-2.

Five Degrees of Heat from Friday night’s game:

1. Closing time: The Pacers led 35-29 after the first quarter and 69-68 at halftime.

The Heat then started the second half with Alec Burks in the lineup in place of Ware. The Pacers then promptly began the third period on an 8-0 run. But Burks then responded with consecutive 3-pointers, sparked the Heat into the lead.

Ware did not enter for the first time in the second half until 5:18 remained in the third period.

Spoelstra said the approach was to ride Burks’ hot hand from the second period.

“This game was moving so fast, if you get any kind of traction with any lineup that’s going well, you want to try to maximize that,” Spoelstra said, noting of Ware, who closed with eight points and 12 rebounds, “In the second half, I thought Kel’el did things well.”

The Heat went into the fourth quarter up 97-92 and later pushed their lead to 104-92 as Herro rested.

Herro returned with 7:55 left and the Heat up 106-100, only to see the Pacers tie it 108-108.

It again was tied at 115-115, 118-118 and 120-120.

That’s when Mitchell’s 3-pointer put the Heat up 123-120, with Herro putting it away with a pair of free throws with 6.5 seconds to play.

“So two good wins,” Spoelstra said, “and a lot of guys had their fingerprints on both these wins, which I really enjoyed.

“We want to continue to build on this.”

2. Wiggins out:  Wiggins on Friday missed his second game since joining the Heat, with an ankle sprain keeping him out.

Wiggins sustained the injury in Wednesday night’s victory over the visiting Atlanta Hawks, playing to the conclusion of that game.

Wiggins had been listed as questionable prior to the Heat announcing him out 90 minutes before Friday night’s opening tip.

Adebayo said it was a credit to the rest of the roster stepping up in Wiggins’ absence.

“To me it’s just everybody staying ready,” Adebayo said. “We preach this all the time, because you never know when Spo’s going to throw you in the game.”

3. Jaquez’s night: Jaquez Jr. started in the place of Wiggins. Jaquez’s previous start had come against the Dallas Mavericks on Feb. 13, in the Heat’s last game before the All-Star break.

After a solid first half, with 11 points and four rebounds, Jaquez then turned his ankle 1:26 into the third quarter on a misstep against Siakam.

Jaquez then was assisted to the locker room, with the Heat shortly after announcing, “Jaime Jaquez, Jr. left tonight’s game with a sprained right ankle and will not return. X-rays returned negative.”

“Jaime really sparked us in that second quarter,” Spoelstra said.

4. Return of Rozier: Removed from the rotation the previous two games amid an uneven season, Rozier returned when he was inserted with 12.8 seconds remaining in the opening period, his first action since last Sunday in Milwaukee.

“I kind of figured once we didn’t have Wiggs out there he was going to be searching for somebody,” Rozier said.

Rozier’s action came with Wiggins out of the mix and ahead of Burks, who had taken Rozier’s rotation role the previous two games.

Rozier also took a turn late in the third period, his role in this one ostensibly to buy the Heat time when Herro was out.

Rozier played 11 minutes and closed with four points on 2-of-5 shooting and four assists.

“Terry was really good in his minutes,” Spoelstra said. “He was really disruptive defensively.”

5. Herro, again: Herro again not only anchored the Heat offense, up to 18 points at the intermission and 25 through three quarters.

He also had the decisive assist that set up Mitchell’s winning 3-pointer.

“Tyler had the trust play in the moment of truth just to get off it and Davion hit that big three,” Spoelstra said.

He closed 11 of 25 from the field, with seven assists.

“My mindset is about consistency right now,” Herro said.

It was Herro’s 81st consecutive regular-season game scoring in double figures. As a means of comparison, Jimmy Butler’s longest such Heat streak was 63 consecutive games. The franchise record is 294 by LeBron James.

Originally Published: February 28, 2025 at 10:26 PM EST