Takeaways, reaction from another Heat home win. This one took a game-winner in final seconds

Another Miami Heat home game, another Heat win.

In a game that included 20 lead changes and eight ties, the Heat (23-8) survived to defeat the Indiana Pacers 113-112 on Friday at AmericanAirlines Arena. Miami improved to 14-1 at home this season, and 23-8 marks its best 31-game start to a season since starting 24-7 in 2013-14.

With the Heat trailing by one with less than a minute to play, guard Goran Dragic made a 9-foot game-winning floater with 6.8 seconds remaining. Offensive rebounds from Bam Adebayo and Jimmy Butler kept Miami’s final offensive possession alive before Dragic hit the shot.

Heat coach Erik Spoelstra admitted he almost called a timeout before Dragic’s game-winner.

It was fitting that offensive rebounds helped the Heat in that late-game moment, with Miami finishing with 14 offensive rebounds Friday. The Heat outrebounded the Pacers 56 to 34.

“We knew we had to bring a physicality to this game and that it probably would be decided by ball in the air, ball on the floor,” Spoelstra said. “We talked about that before the game. Sure enough on the offensive side of the floor, we had about three tips and offensive rebounds that led to Goran’s runner.”

Pacers coach Nate McMillan said of the Heat’s offensive rebounding: “It was a problem all night. We knew that this was an athletic team. They shoot and go get it. We didn’t really stop them from rebounding all night. That last possession was the biggest one of the game and we give them three chances on that possession.”

Pacers guard Aaron Holiday missed a potential game-winning shot as the game clock expired.

The Pacers, which entered with wins in six of its previous seven games, played without Malcolm Brogdon (sore hamstring) and Victor Oladipo (right knee rehab).

The Heat is right back at it Saturday against the Philadelphia 76ers to complete its first of four home back-to-backs of the season. The 76ers fell to the Magic 98-97 in Orlando on Friday.

Five takeaways from the Heat’s win over the Pacers (21-11) ...

1. It was offense that won Friday’s game for the Heat, not defense. Either way, the result was another Heat “clutch” win.

The Heat entered its matchup against the Pacers with the league’s eighth-best offensive rating this season. And Miami’s offense didn’t disappoint, with 113 points on 44.9 percent from the field and 42.1 percent on threes while committing just 13 turnovers.

After shooting 9 of 23 (39.1 percent) in the first quarter, the Heat made 31 of 66 shots (47 percent) over the final three quarters.

The Heat’s defense wasn’t as effective, with the Pacers scoring 112 points on 48.9 percent shooting from the field and 45.2 percent on threes while committing only four turnovers. Holiday led Indiana with 17 points and nine assists.

This has been somewhat of a trend for the Heat this season, as it entered with the league’s 10th-best defensive rating. That’s solid, but not good enough for a team that entered the season with aspirations of finishing with a top-five defense.

It’s not often the Heat’s offense is ahead of its defense, especially for a team that finished with the NBA’s fifth-worst offense last season. After Friday’s win, Miami owns the league’s eighth-best offensive rating and 11th-best defensive rating this season.

The Heat also now holds a 10-3 record in “clutch” games this season, with its .769 winning percentage in these situations tied with the Bucks for the best in the NBA. Milwaukee is also 10-3 in “clutch” games.

A “clutch” game is defined as a game that has a margin of five points or fewer inside the final five minutes of the fourth quarter.

“That we can always find a way to win,” Butler said of what the Heat’s success in close games means. “I like games like this because it makes you execute more so down the stretch. You got to play basketball the right way. Like I said, you got to just find a way to win. Our pride is on the line at that point in time. It’s easy to win a game by 20 or 30 points. In this league, it’s difficult to win by one or two.”

2. Adebayo continues to post double-doubles at an impressive rate.

Adebayo recorded his 19th double-double in 31 games this season on Friday, with 18 points on 8-of-10 shooting, 15 rebounds and six assists. He produced 18 double-doubles in 151 regular-season games over his first two NBA seasons.

“You could feel his intensity. It was inspiring,” Spoelstra said of Adebayo’s performance against the Pacers. “... That’s what Bam has been doing for us all season long, really inspiring us to dig deeper and do more. Then offensively, he just figured it out. Whatever we needed tonight. That was second efforts or being around the paint to be able to finish off of Jimmy’s drives.”

Adebayo, who is a legitimate All-Star candidate this season, entered averaging 15.7 points, 10.6 rebounds, 4.6 assists, 1.5 steals and 1.3 blocks. The only other NBA players averaging at least 15 points, 10 rebounds, four assists, one steal and one block this season: reigning MVP and Bucks All-Star forward Giannis Antetokounmpo and Minnesota Timberwolves All-Star center Karl-Anthony Towns.

Along with Adebayo’s strong performance, Heat rookie guard Kendrick Nunn and second-year forward Duncan Robinson also impressed. Nunn ended the night with 17 points on 7-of-14 shooting and Robinson scored 18 on 6-of-10 shooting on threes.

Nunn has now scored 504 points over the first 31 games of his rookie season, becoming the fastest rookie to reach 500 points in franchise history. Dwyane Wade reached 500 points in his 32nd game.

And Robinson became the fastest in franchise history to make 100 threes, needing four games fewer than Damon Jones. In the 2004-05 season, Jones made his 100th three-pointer in his 35th game.

3. Butler continues to help the Heat’s offense with his ability to draw fouls.

Butler’s playmaking ability has been somewhat of a surprise this season, as he entered Friday averaging a career-high 6.6 assists. While his ability to put pressure on opponents by getting in the paint and drawing fouls is not as surprising, it has certainly helped the Heat’s offense.

On Friday, Butler finished with a team-high 20 points on 3-of-11 shooting from the field. Most of his points came from the free-throw line, where he shot 14 of 15. Butler also recorded nine rebounds and six assists.

Butler is averaging a career-high 9.3 free-throw attempts per game this season, which ranks third-most in the NBA behind only Houston’s James Harden (12.4) and Antetokounmpo (10.3). And he’s making them, too, at an 83.2 percent clip.

This is a big reason why the Heat’s free-throw shooting has improved drastically. After finishing with league’s worst team free-throw percentage at 69.5 percent last season, Miami is ranked 14th in that category at 77.3 percent this season.

The Heat’s improved efficiency at the foul line is a big reason behind its offensive growth, and Butler has played a big part in that.

4. Heat two-way contract big man Chris Silva did not play Friday, but it will go down as one of the most memorable games of his career.

A native of Gabon, Africa, Silva left his home country in 2012 just days away from turning 16 to come to the United States with a dream of making it to the NBA. He had seen his parents and siblings only once since then, and that was when he returned to Gabon for two weeks to renew his visa as a sophomore at the University of South Carolina.

But the Heat, the NBA and NBA Africa teamed up to surprise Silva with his mother, Carine Minkoue Obame, a few hours before Friday’s game following the team’s walkthrough. A video posted by the Heat showed a shocked Silva as his mother walked onto the AmericanAirlines Arena court, with teammates and coaches huddled around him.

“This has been in the works for about a month and I was so nervous bringing the group together,” Spoelstra said. “It’s one of the most special moments I’ve been a part of in this profession. To be a part of it as an organization, to be able to make this happen with the NBA and to be able to experience and have Chris experience this moment, it was really incredible.”

The video of Silva’s surprise was displayed on the AmericanAirlines Arena video screen during a timeout in the third quarter. It was met with a loud ovation.

5. Fresh off of serving his third team-issued suspension of the season, Heat guard Dion Waiters was on the active roster for Friday’s game. But, again, he did not play.

With Waiters’ third team-issued suspension ending at the conclusion of Monday’s home win against the Jazz, he returned to practice Thursday and was in uniform against the Pacers. Justise Winslow (lower back bone bruise), KZ Okpala (G League assignment) and Daryl Macon (two-way contract) were the Heat’s inactive players Friday.

It marked the fifth time Waiters has been on the active roster this season, but he has yet to play.

Waiters’ latest suspension, which lasted six games, was “without pay for his failure to adhere to team policies, violation of team rules and continued insubordination.” Between the three suspensions, Waiters has been suspended for 17 games this season.

Forward James Johnson has played more than Waiters, but not much more. Johnson did not play for the 14th consecutive game on Friday.

The 32-year-old Johnson has played in just six of the Heat’s first 31 games this season. This comes after a turbulent start to the season, with Johnson away from the team for the first 10 days of training camp and the preseason after failing to meet the Heat’s conditioning requirements.

Shams Charania of The Athletic reported Friday that Heat president Pat Riley met with Waiters and Johnson recently, “making it clear that the team hopes for a fresh start and wants both to reintegrate themselves as part of the team.” For now, both are clearly out of the Heat’s rotation and it’s difficult to envision both becoming consistent parts of the rotation again, barring injuries that cut into Miami’s depth.