Jimmy Butler and Goran Dragic lead the way. Takeaways from Heat’s Game 1 win over Pacers

Five takeaways from the Miami Heat’s 113-101 win over the Indiana Pacers on Tuesday to open the first round of the playoffs at Disney’s Wide World of Sports Complex in Lake Buena Vista. Miami holds a 1-0 lead in the best-of-7 series ...

The Pacers’ offensive game plan was clear: Hunt for mismatches against some of the Heat’s perimeter defenders and get to work. But Miami adjusted to solve it for one game.

The plan worked in the first quarter, as Indiana finished the period with a 33-27 lead with the help of 8-of-10 shooting in the paint for 16 paint points. The Pacers’ attacking scheme also resulted in a lot of early Heat fouls, with Indiana making 11 of 12 free throws in the first quarter.

The Pacers’ offensive success in the opening quarter came with perimeter players like Malcolm Brogdon, Aaron Holiday, Victor Oladipo and T.J. Warren hunting for mismatches against some of the Heat’s weaker individual defenders and attacking them off the dribble and in pick-and-roll sets whenever possible.

Goran Dragic, Tyler Herro and Duncan Robinson seemed to be the three the Pacers were determined to expose on the defensive end, and Robinson was called for his second foul with 5:27 remaining in the first quarter.

This strategy continued to work in spots, but the Heat’s defensive adjustments slowed the Pacers’ offense just enough. After scoring 16 paint points and taking 14 free throws in the first quarter, Indiana totaled just 24 paint points and 10 free-throw attempts during the final three quarters.

The Pacers shot 8 of 10 (80 percent) from inside the paint in the first quarter and 12 of 23 (52.2 percent) from that zone over the rest of the game.

“The first half, we were really bad on the ball,” Dragic said. “They penetrated too many times to the middle and they got layups, and after that we put them on the free-throw line too many times and it’s tough to get back when we are doing that. Second half, we were just solid. ... We didn’t reach. We contested the shots. When we do that, we are at our best.”

Miami’s help defense was better after the opening period and the defensive versatility of Bam Adebayo helped suffocate Indiana’s offense late in the game. Also, the fact that Oladipo exited the contest with 3:26 remaining in the first quarter and never returned after being poked in the left eye didn’t help Indiana. In addition, Holiday was limited to just nine minutes in the second half because of foul trouble.

“They do have a lot of guys that are dangerous off the dribble and that will continue to be a big key as the series moves on,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “So we had a little bit more commitment on the ball where it wasn’t a straight line blow by. It’s tough to get help when it’s direct lines to the rim and our weak-side defense was a little bit more active once we got past that first quarter.”

A lot of the Pacers’ offensive success after the first quarter actually came from three-point range, as Indiana shot 8 of 19 from deep during the final three periods.

Brogdon and Warren led Indiana with 22 points each.

The Pacers announced after the game that Oladipo visited the on-campus NBA clinic for further evaluation of his left eye and an “initial evaluation showed no immediate concerns and Oladipo will be monitored over the next few days.” His status is day-to-day.

The Heat started Dragic over rookie guard Kendrick Nunn, and the results were again positive.

The starting five of Dragic, Jimmy Butler, Robinson, Jae Crowder and Adebayo carried the Heat to a 16-16 tie before Miami’s first substitution entered the game. Although the Heat’s defense wasn’t particularly good during that stretch to start the game because of the aforementioned reasons.

The second half was better, with the Heat’s starting group outscoring the Pacers 16-10 to open the third quarter.

As for Dragic, he was phenomenal. After a slow start, the veteran guard totaled 21 points in the second half on 8-of-13 shooting from the field and 3-of-6 shooting on threes.

Dragic finished with 24 points, six rebounds and five assists in 34 minutes. The Heat outscored the Pacers by 20 points with Dragic on the court Tuesday.

“We rely on our young players. That’s a fact,” Spoelstra said. “When you go into a playoff situation, you also need veteran playoff experienced players and that’s who Goran is. He’s battle tested. He has been through so many pressure playoff moments. He was able to change his role on the fly and go back to the starting lineup. Obviously, I think that helped settle that group. That’s not an indictment on anybody else. That’s just where we are right now.”

The Heat’s starting lineup of Dragic, Butler, Robinson, Crowder and Adebayo finished Game 1 as a plus-6 in 13 minutes.

This is all just a continuation of the success this five-man combination has had this season, especially in the bubble. The lineup is a plus-39 in 64 minutes together this season and a plus-31 in 34 minutes in the three games it has started at Disney.

Playoff Jimmy really is different.

Butler finished his first playoff game in a Heat jersey with 28 points, three rebounds, four assists, four steals and two blocks in 37 minutes. It’s the fourth-most points for a player in their Heat postseason debut, as Miami outscored Indiana by 13 points with Butler on the court.

“That’s what he has been his entire career” Spoelstra said. “He’s somebody that in those pressure moments, you throw him the ball and he’s going to make a play that you trust is going to be good for the team. The other thing you got to love about Jimmy is that he’s willing to put himself out there, make or miss he wants the responsibility. That’s obviously why we sought him out so fervently.”

As usual, Butler was effective near the basket as he finished 4 of 6 from inside the restricted area. And as usual, that aggressive style helped get him to the free-throw line as he finished 10 of 12 from the charity stripe.

But it’s the fourth quarter that Butler really came alive in, as he scored 10 points with the help of two huge threes that he made in the final 3:30 of the game.

“I personally know that’s what Jimmy is going to bring to a playoff game,” Herro said. “I know how he gets when the game is on the line and we’re playing for something big, and that’s how Jimmy gets. I expect him to do the same thing every game. That’s what he does. Jimmy’s a killer. He’s our heart and soul, and we’re going to follow his lead to the next 15 wins.”

It marked the first time the five-time All-Star has made two threes in a game since a Feb. 3 win over the Philadelphia 76ers. In fact, Butler shot just 29 of 119 (24.4 percent) on threes during the regular season — the fewest threes he has attempted in a season since the first two seasons of his NBA career.

“I take what the games gives me the majority of the time,” Butler said of his two made threes in the fourth quarter. “Sometimes if forced me to take some bad shots. But in the end, my teammates, my coaches are like, ‘Don’t lose this game. Win it for us.’ That’s what I was thinking, make the right play.”

Butler had some motivation, too, as he said after the game that a Pacers coach was “yapping at me for some reason.”

“That coach decided to say whatever he decided to say to me,” Butler said. “Luckily, he had on a mask so I just heard him mumbling through his mask.”

Butler and Dragic combined to score 24 of the Heat’s 32 points in the fourth quarter, as Miami outscored Indiana 32-21 in the period to turn a one-point lead entering the final quarter into a 12-point win. The Heat closed the game with a lineup of Dragic, Herro, Butler, Iguodala and Adebayo — a group that had not played together this season before Tuesday.

The Heat’s other All-Star was also very good in Game 1. Adebayo finished with 17 points, 10 rebounds and six assists in 35 minutes.

Robinson turned in a relatively quiet performance with six points on 2-of-8 shooting from deep. He played 24 minutes.

With Derrick Jones Jr. cleared to play Tuesday despite a neck strain, the Heat had its full complement of rotation players available for the start of the playoffs. One notable omission from the Game 1 rotation? Nunn.

Nunn, who started in each of his 67 appearances during the regular season, moved to a bench role for the first time this season to open the playoffs. But Nunn has yet to play off the bench because he didn’t get on the court in Tuesday’s game.

Miami’s bench rotation on Tuesday included Herro, Iguodala, Jones and Kelly Olynyk.

Herro was the one who got the most minutes off the bench, recording 15 points on 5-of-9 shooting, three rebounds and four assists in 34 minutes in his first NBA playoff game. It’s the fourth-most points in a postseason debut for a Heat rookie.

The four active Heat players who did not play in Game 1 were Nunn, Meyers Leonard, Solomon Hill and Udonis Haslem.

While Nunn’s omission from the rotation Tuesday is somewhat of a surprise, it’s not totally unexpected.

Nunn, 25, averaged 10.8 points while shooting 31.3 percent from the field and 20.7 percent on threes in the five seeding games he played in. Miami was outscored by 46 points in the 116 minutes he played during this five-game stretch, as Nunn missed the other three seeding games because he left the bubble and was forced to quarantine upon returning to the Disney campus.

Nunn, who was named as one of three finalists for the NBA’s Rookie of the Year award, averaged 15.3 points while shooting 43.9 percent from the field and 35 percent on threes to go with 3.3 assists in 67 regular-season games.

The only two Heat players unavailable for Game 1 were rookies Gabe Vincent (right shoulder sprain) and KZ Okpala (personal reasons).

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The Heat entered as a relatively heavy betting favorite to win the series, considering it’s a No. 4 seed vs. No. 5 seed matchup. And Tuesday’s Game 1 victory skewed the odds even more favorably toward Miami.

That’s probably obvious because the Heat now has a 1-0 series lead. But Miami also owns a 17-5 all-time record in playoff series that it has taken a 1-0 lead in. In fact, Miami has won eight of its past nine series when taking Game 1.

The Heat last won a playoff series in 2016, when it eliminated the Charlotte Hornets in the first round. But if Tuesday’s Game 1 and history are any indication, that drought very well could end this year.

As for the other series in the Heat’s half of the Eastern Conference bracket, the eighth-seeded Orlando Magic earned the surprising Game 1 win over the top-seeded Milwaukee Bucks on Tuesday. The winner of the Heat-Pacers series will play the winner of the Bucks-Magic series in the second round.