The Miami Heat travel to the middle of the country to face the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday night. What does NBA 2K20 have to say about the matchup?
In our ongoing NBA 2K20 game-day preview series, we turn to Wednesday night’s game between the Miami Heat and the Indiana Pacers. The Heat bring their 26-10 record on the road to face the 23-14 Pacers.
We’ve been predicting game outcomes for the Heat using NBA 2K20 for almost a month, and to this point we’ve only gotten two games incorrect. Once again we’ll look to the advanced predictive powers of NBA 2K to get an idea of what to expect in this game between the Eastern Conference rivals.
First, the ground rules. We modified the Pacers’ lineup to reflect their rotation and minutes from their last game, a 115-104 win over the Charlotte Hornets on Monday. This means their real-life injuries are reflected in their lineup, including Malcolm Brogdon and Victor Oladipo. While Domantas Sabonas is day-to-day with a knee injury, we decided to include him in their lineup with full minutes.
As for the Heat, we opted to go with their recent Jimmy Butler-heavy rotation, given that he’s probable to play. This means we’re going to mostly disregard their last game against the Portland Trail Blazers, and in spite of James Johnson‘s strong game off the bench, he’s going to receive another DNP-CD. Justise Winslow has made progress towards getting back on the floor, but we’ll wait until he’s actually cleared to play before we include him in a simulation.
In order to reflect the Heat’s defensive tendencies, we moved up head coach Erik Spoelstra’s run zone tendency from five percent to 50 percent. We also changed Bam Adebayo’s secondary position to power forward since Meyers Leonard’s positions look that way. Lastly, I edited Tyler Herro, Jimmy Butler, and Adebayo’s vitals to allow them to initiate the offense.
Starting lineups
Miami Heat
Point guard, Kendrick Nunn
Shooting guard, Duncan Robinson
Small forward, Jimmy Butler
Power forward, Bam Adebayo
Center, Meyers Leonard
Indiana Pacers
Point guard, Aaron Holiday
Shooting guard, Justin Lamb
Small forward, T.J. Warren
Power forward, Domantas Sabonis
Center, Myles Turner
Outcome
Pacers 125, Heat 107
The game got off to a tight start, ending the first quarter tied at 25, but from that point forward the Pacers won each quarter and took a 60-49 lead into the half. The Heat couldn’t get anything going from 3-point range, shooting just 8-of-27 from behind the arc, while the Pacers couldn’t miss, shooting 12-of-26 from distance.
The Pacers had 32 assists and won the rebounding battle 45-42, essentially outplaying the Heat across the board in this game, although the Heat had a 27-19 edge at the free throw line.
Player stats
Miami Heat
Bam Adebayo – 28 points, 18 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 block
Tyler Herro – 25 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal
Goran Dragic – 15 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists
Jimmy Butler – 13 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 steals
Duncan Robinson – 11 points, 1 rebound, 3 assists
Kendrick Nunn – 7 points, 1 rebound, 4 assists, 4 steals
Indiana Pacers
Aaron Holiday – 30 points, 4 rebounds, 9 assists
Myles Turner – 27 points, 5 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, 4 blocks
Jeremy Lamb – 18 points, 10 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal
Domantas Sabonis – 10 points, 12 rebounds, 3 assists
T.J. Warren – 8 points 1, rebound, 1 assist, 1 steal
Make sure to check back Friday morning for our next projections between the Miami Heat and the Brooklyn Nets.