Home|Sports|‘Buddy’ drops in 29 but Pacers fall to the HeatSports
Simba FrenchSend an emailFebruary 10, 2023 204 2 minute readFacebookTwitterLinkedInShare via Email
It was a strong night on the offensive side for Bahamian professional basketball player Chavano ‘Buddy’ Hield as he scored a team-high 29 points but his Indiana Pacers fell 116-111 in an Eastern Conference showdown against the Miami Heat on Wednesday night.
Playing on the road at the Miami-Dade Arena in Miami, Florida, the Pacers received their seventh straight road loss and they dropped to 12th in the Eastern Conference Standings of the National Basketball Association (NBA) with a 25-31 win/loss record. They have lost 13 of their last 15 games.
Hield finished the night shooting 10-for-18 from the field. Six of those made field goals came from behind the three-point line. It moved his total three-point made shots this season to 214 three-pointers which leads the league. His closest competitor is Portland Trail Blazers’ guard Anfernee Simons with 192 three-pointers. Hield decided to make a return to the three-point competition at the NBA’s all-star weekend. The 2020 champion will compete among the league’s best shooters in the Starry Three-Point Contest at the NBA All-Star Weekend this year.
On Wednesday, to go along with his 29 points, the Bahamian had seven rebounds and two assists.
The Heat was led by center Bam Adebayo with 38 points and nine rebounds.
In the fourth quarter on Wednesday, the Pacers got off to a rough start as the Heat went on a scoring run and took a 97-85 lead with 8:47 left in the game. The Pacers stuck close, shrinking the deficit to three points at one point. Hield missed a potential game-tying three pointer with 5:40 left as the Heat led 101-98 at that point. The Heat went up 109-101 at the 1:28 mark of the final quarter, but on their next possession, Hield made a shot from deep to cut the margin to 109-104. The Pacers, needing a stop down the stretch, got a steal from Hield with 19.1 seconds left on the clock. They got the margin down to 112-109, but the Heat made their free throws down the stretch to seal the win.
Hield hit a three-pointer with 9:17 left in the first quarter to tie the game at nine points each. It went downhill for the Pacers after that as the Heat went on a 14-0 scoring run to take a 23-9 advantage. At the end of the first quarter, the Pacers cut that lead to single digits, trailing 39-30.
The Pacers were more fortunate in the second quarter as they went on to claw their way back and eventually took a 52-51 lead at the 4:22 mark. Chris Duarte hit a jump shot to give them that lead. Hield’s layup with 35 seconds left in the first half put the Pacers up 63-60 and the score remained at that after the first 24 minutes of play.
The two teams shot almost the same from the field with the Pacers hitting 48.7 percent of their shots and the Heat shooting 46.8 percent. The Heat were a force on the boards, winning that battle 48-31.
Hield and the Pacers will face fellow Bahamian DeAndre Ayton and the re-tooled Phoenix Suns (30-26) tonight. That game will be played at the Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana, and tip-off is set for 7 o’ clock.
Ayton has been on a tear in February, averaging 25 points and 12.5 rebounds per contest. He is also shooting a blistering 74.1 percent from the field. He had back-to-back 30-plus points and 15-rebounds games in the past week. The 35 points Ayton had against the Brooklyn Nets on Tuesday matched a career-high for him. His scoring will definitely take a hit with guard Devin Booker back and with the addition of Kevin Durant, but the Suns are now regarded by many analysts as one of the better teams in the league.